Lab instruments maker Thermo Fisher is paying $2.1 billion in an all-cash deal to acquire Dionex Corporation, which manufactures and markets chromatography systems. Thermo is purchasing all outstanding shares of Dionex for $118.50 per share--a 21 percent premium to the company's closing stock price on Friday.
Dionex's technology includes "extraction systems for separating and identifying the components of chemical mixtures," according to MassDevice. The deal combines Dionex's ion and liquid chromatography systems and consumables with Thermo Fisher's gas chromatography systems and consumables. The companies say their combined chromatography business will be the extensive in the industry. And Dionex, which does 35 percent of its business in Asia, gives Thermo Fisher a larger footprint in China and other fast-growing Asian markets.
In its release, Thermo Fisher noted that it expects realize total operating synergies of $60 million over the next three years through a combination of cost savings and revenue enhancements. The instruments maker didn't indicate whether those cost savings would involve job cuts, but for Dionex's 1,600 employees it may trigger fears that their new parent company is considering layoffs.
"The transaction, which we expect to be immediately accretive, is consistent with our strategy of accelerating growth by increasing our depth of capabilities to serve attractive end markets," noted Thermo CEO Marc Casper. "Specifically, it complements our strong presence in China, where we've established the headquarters for our global environmental instruments business and continue to build our commercial infrastructure to meet the needs of customers in growing water quality, consumer safety and life sciences markets."
- check out Thermo Fisher's release
- get more on the deal from MassDevice