Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to buy Life Technologies for $13.6 billion, reports Bloomberg News. Thermo Fisher will be paying $76 a share for the company, adds Daily Scan sister publication GenomeWeb Daily News. GWDN notes that Canada's Financial Post had suggested in January that Life Tech was seeking a buyer and, shortly after that, the company confirmed it was undergoing a strategic review.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Thermo Fisher had to "[fend] off competition at the end of an auction process from a private-equity group and another industry bidder, Sigma-Aldrich." Ross Muken, an analyst at International Strategy & Investment Group, tells Bloomberg that the price was higher than what analysts had expected. The Life Tech purchase gives Thermo "reach across all the major technologies," he says, adding, "You now have a unique customer touch and a portfolio others will be unable to match."
The deal is expected to close toward the beginning of 2014, GWDN adds.