Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the latest, and largest, in a wave of acquisitions Monday when it revealed plans to buy Life Technologies for $13.6 billion. The Life Tech acquisition is the 11th for Thermo since 2010. Following is a list of those acquisitions as well as two sell-offs of business units:
April 15, 2013 – Announces plans to acquire Life Technologies for $13.6 billion, plus the acquired company’s debt, which stood at $2.2 billion as of December 31, 2012.
September 13, 2012 – Completes acquisition of transplant diagnostics developer One Lambda for $925 million cash, a deal first disclosed July 16. Founded in 1984 by transplantation researcher Paul Terasaki , Ph.D., One Lambda grew to about 320 employees and 2011 revenue of $182 million at the time of its purchase. One Lambda is absorbed Into Thermo Fisher’s Specialty Diagnostics segment.
August 23, 2011 – Completes €2.47 billion ($3.22 billion) acquisition of Phadia from European private equity firm Cinven, in a deal Thermo Fisher announced May 19, with the goal of enhancing its presence in high-growth specialty diagnostics markets. Founded in 1967, Phadia had about 1,500 employees globally, and 2010 revenue of €367 million ($479 million) when Thermo Fisher acquired the developer of blood tests for the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergies and autoimmune diseases. Phadia becomes part of Thermo’s Specialty Diagnostics segment.
July 18, 2011 – Acquires TREK Diagnostic Systems, a provider of blood culture, microorganism identification, and antibiotic susceptibility testing products from Magellan Biosciences for an undisclosed price. TREK had grown to 150 employees and 2010 revenues of $34 million before its acquisition, and is now part of Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies segment.
May 18, 2011 – Acquires Sterilin, which makes single-use plastic products for sample collection, preservation, and processing. Sterilin, which had 2010 revenue of approximately $35 million, becomes part of Thermo Fisher’s Laboratory Products and Services segment.
May 17, 2011 – Completes acquisition of Dionex for approximately $2.1 billion, a deal first announced December 13, 2010. Founded in 1975, Dionex grew to more than 1,600 employees after introducing the first ion chromatography system for water analysis, the cornerstone of an ion and liquid chromatography portfolio that attracts Thermo Fisher. Dionex is integrated into Thermo’s Laboratory Products and Services segment.
February 24, 2011 – Sells its Athena Diagnostics to Quest Diagnostics for $740 million, and its Lancaster Laboratories to Eurofins Scientific for $200 million. Athena generated $110 million in revenues, and Lancaster $115 million, in 2010.
December 27, 2010 – Completes acquisition of Lomb Scientific, an A$34 million ($35.1 million)-a-year provider of laboratory chemicals, consumables, and instruments in Australia and New Zealand with 100 employees and customers in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions. Lomb Scientific is integrated into Thermo’s Analytical Technologies and Laboratory Products and Services segments.
July 16, 2010 – Completes $260 million acquisition of Fermentas International, a maker of reagents, enzymes, and kits with about 500 employees, and 2009 revenues of C$57 million ($55.7 million). Fermentas is absorbed into Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies segment.
April 15, 2010 – Acquires Proxeon, a supplier of products for proteomics analysis with 2009 revenues of about $10 million in 2009 and nearly 40 employees. Proxeon becomes part of Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies segment.
March 5, 2010 – Completes acquisition for an undisclosed price of Finnzymes, a maker of tools for high-performance PCR that generated 2009 revenues of $20 million. Thermo Fisher announced the deal February 1. Finnzymes is integrated primarily into Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies segment, with some equipment and consumables product lines being added to the Laboratory Products and Services segment.
February 26, 2010 – Completes acquisition of Ahura Scientific for $145 million cash and the prospect of undisclosed additional milestone payments, a deal announced January 19. Ahura makes handheld Raman and FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectroscopy instruments. Ahura, which has about 120 employees and 2009 revenues of about $45 million, is absorbed into Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies segment.
