Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

Beckman Coulter Prices Notes Offering; Files for Common Stock Offering

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Beckman Coulter has priced two senior notes offerings and has filed a prospectus to sell up to $250 million worth of common stock, which will help pay for its $780 million acquisition of Olympus' diagnostics business.

The offerings were expected, as Beckman said in late February that it would pay for the acquisition through a combination of around $500 million worth of new debt and roughly $300 million of its common stock.

Today, Beckman said that it has priced $250 million worth of senior notes that mature in 2015 at a rate of 6 percent, and it priced $250 million worth of senior notes that mature in 2019 at a rate of 7 percent. The offerings are expected to close on May 21.

The firm also has filed a prospectus to raise $235 million, or $250 million if the underwriters exercise the over-allotment option, through the sale of common stock. The firm did not say when it expects to complete the common stock offering.

Beckman's purchase of the Olympus diagnostics business cleared US antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission last week.

The Scan

Cell Signaling Pathway Identified as Metastasis Suppressor

A new study in Nature homes in on the STING pathway as a suppressor of metastasis in a mouse model of lung cancer.

Using Bees to Gain Insights into Urban Microbiomes

As bees buzz around, they pick up debris that provides insight into the metagenome of their surroundings, researchers report in Environmental Microbiome.

Age, Genetic Risk Tied to Blood Lipid Changes in New Study

A study appearing in JAMA Network Open suggests strategies to address high lipid levels should focus on individuals with high genetic risk and at specific ages.

Study Examines Insights Gained by Adjunct Trio RNA Sequencing in Complex Pediatric Disease Cases

Researchers in AJHG explore the diagnostic utility of adding parent-child RNA-seq to genome sequencing in dozens of families with complex, undiagnosed genetic disease.