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Invitrogen Closes $210M Sale of BioReliance to Avista Capital

Apr 13, 2007
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Invitrogen has closed the $210 million sale of its BioReliance unit to Avista Capital Partners as part of its plans to better organize some of its acquisitions and streamline its focus, the company said today.
 
As GenomeWeb Daily News reported on Feb. 14, Invitrogen’s CEO and chairman Greg Lucier agreed to sell the biological services unit to Avista in an effort to focus on its platform of scientific technologies.
 
Lucier today reiterated that the move followed a thorough portfolio review, after which the company decided to unload the services business to concentrate on its tools and technologies.
 
The decision to sell BioReliance came at the same time Invitrogen posted a 300 percent decline in 2006 fourth quarter net income compared with the same period in 2005.
 
Avista named Tim Derrington, who was BioReliance’s general manager under Invitrogen, to take over as CEO of the Rockville, Md.-based biological services company.

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