NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Agilent Technologies today said that the European Commission has informed the firm that it has met the conditions set forth in January for Agilent's proposed acquisition of Varian.
Agilent agreed in July 2009 to acquire Varian for around $1.5 billion. But regulatory officials in the EU and US had competition concerns, and in January the European Commission told the firm that Varian would have to divest some product lines.
In early March, Agilent reached an agreement with Bruker to acquire from Varian its global inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instruments business; its global laboratory gas chromatography instruments business; and its global gas chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry instruments business.
Agilent said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission today that the merger still remains subject to approval by the US Federal Trade Commission and the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.