Shareholders will receive $4.00 per share, an 11.7% premium to its last closing price.

SeraCare Life Sciences entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm that focuses on middle market leveraged buyout investments. Under the terms of the agreement, holders of outstanding shares of common stock of SeraCare will receive $4.00 per share; the company closed the last trading day at $3.58.

SeraCare provides products and services to facilitate the discovery, development, and production of human diagnostics and therapeutics. The company’s portfolio includes diagnostic controls, plasma-derived reagents and molecular biomarkers, biobanking, and contract research services.

“SeraCare’s product offerings, services, and strong customer base provide an attractive foundation on which to compete and grow in the global high-growth markets of human diagnostics and therapeutics research and development,” says Fran Lunger, a Linden operating partner and former CEO of Millipore.

Last August SeraCare reported that it had initiated a process to evaluate alternatives for the company to enhance shareholder value, including a sale of the firm. For the quarter ended December 31, 2011, SeraCare reported revenue of $11.4 million, a 9% increase compared with $10.5 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2010. Gross margins increased six percentage points to 44%. The company reported net income of $1.0 million, or $0.05 per share, on a basic and diluted basis, compared with net income of $1.6 million for the same quarter in fiscal 2011.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2012, diagnostic and biopharmaceutical product revenue rose 21% to $8.8 million from $7.3 million during the same period in fiscal 2011. The BioServices business posted revenue of $2.5 million, a 20% decline from the same period in fiscal 2011. SeraCare also reported that as of February 10, 2012, it had $19.5 million in cash and virtually no debt.

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