NEW YORK – Danaher announced today that pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius will purchase three of Danaher's Life Science businesses for $750 million in cash.
The agreement covers the sale of Danaher's label-free biomolecular characterization, chromatography hardware and resins, and microcarriers and particle validation standards businesses and is being done to obtain regulatory approval for Danaher's pending $21.4 billion acquisition of the GE Biopharma business. The agreement, which is dependent on Danaher completing its GE acquisition, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
Combined revenue of the three Danaher businesses was approximately $140 million in 2018, Washington, DC-based Danaher said. ForteBio, Danaher's biomolecular characterization business, uses protein analysis instruments, biosensors, and reagents in drug discovery. Its chromatography hardware and resins business includes resin, columns, and skids. Danaher's microcarrier business, SoloHill, leverages a microcarrier technology and particle validation standards used in cell culture, along with other bioprocesses.
ForteBio, based in Fremont, California has about 300 employees. SoloHill, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, employs about 10 people.
In a statement, Danaher President and CEO Thomas Joyce called the deal a "significant step in the regulatory process toward closing the GE Biopharma acquisition," and added that the firm continues to expect the deal to close in the Q1 2020.
Sartorius, based in Goettingen, Germany, provides products and services to the biopharmaceutical sector.