Beckman to Acquire Agencourt For Up to $140M; Plans New Personal Genomics Spin-Off

NEW YORK, April 27 (GenomeWeb News) - Beckman Coulter intends to purchase Agencourt Bioscience for up to $140 million in cash, the companies said today.

Beckman plans to acquire all of Agencourt's outstanding stock for $100 million in cash and make up to $40 million in contingent payments through 2007. Following the acquisition, which is expected to close near the end of May, Agencourt will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Beckman, and will remain based in Beverly, Mass.

Agencourt's management team and its workforce of about 100 will remain in place, according to the company.

In addition, Agencourt and Beckman plan a spin-off, to be called Agencourt Personal Genomics, which will develop a "sequencing by synthesis" approach for sequencing individuals' genomes.

Agencourt provides genome-sequencing services and a bead-based nucleic acid purification technology called SPRI. It is one of five large-scale sequencing centers funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute.