NEW YORK, May 30 (GenomeWeb News) - Applied Biosystems plans to acquire Agencourt Personal Genomics for approximately $120 million in cash, ABI said today.
As part of the deal, Beckman Coulter will sell to ABI its minority interest in APG for approximately $50 million in cash. Beckman acquired a 49-percent stake in APG as part of its May 2005 acquisition of Agencourt Biosciences.
APG's massively parallel sequencing method, based on fluorescence stepwise ligation technology, is expected to complement current ABI platforms and will be applicable to genetic analysis applications such as de novo genome sequencing and high-throughput genotyping. ABI said that it expects to place initial systems with early-access customers in 2007.
APG's R&D team will continue to be based in Beverly, Mass., and will become part of ABI's molecular and cell biology division in Foster City, Calif.
The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter, ABI and Beckman said.
ABI said that it expects the acquisition to be dilutive in both fiscal 2007 and 2008, primarily due to R&D spending, commercialization activities, and acquisition-related amortization associated.
ABI in October 2005 bought a stake in next-generation sequencing company Visigen and stressed one month later that it wasn't done shopping.