NEW YORK – Wall Street had a mixed reaction to a report that Bio-Rad Laboratories and Qiagen are in talks about a possible merger.
On Monday, Bio-Rad's shares slid 8 percent to $392.95 while Qiagen's stock rose 3 percent on a report from the Wall Street Journal about a potential merger. In early morning trading on Tuesday, Bio-Rad's shares remained down 2 percent, while Qiagen's stock reversed course and were trading down about 3 percent.
The WSJ report drove Qiagen's shares up as much as 8 percent on Monday and Bio-Rad's shares down as much as 10 percent.
An agreement is not expected to be reached for a few more weeks, if at all. The merger could be valued at more than $10 billion, the WSJ reported.
Bio-Rad has been angling for a larger transformative deal, potentially a merger of equals, since early in 2021. Meanwhile, Qiagen was slated to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2020 before that deal fell apart.
A spokesperson for Bio-Rad said that the company does not comment on market speculation, while a spokesperson for Qiagen said that the firm does not comment on market rumors.