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PerkinElmer Sells US Prenatal Screening Lab Services Business to Eurofins

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – PerkinElmer announced today that it has sold its US prenatal screening laboratory services business, PerkinElmer Labs/NTD, to global laboratory group Eurofins Scientific.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Prahlad Singh, president of PerkinElmer's diagnostics business, said in a statement that divesting the NTD lab services business frees the company to concentrate on developing maternal fetal health technologies and solutions for US-based customers. The company will also continue providing kits, technologies, and services for mothers and babies globally.

Earlier this year, PerkinElmer acquired Vanadis Diagnostics, a Swedish firm that has been developing an automated noninvasive prenatal aneuploidy test that does not use next-generation sequencing or microarray technologies.

"Recent changes to US healthcare reform continue to drive the consolidation of diagnostics testing towards broader service providers," Singh said. "With its breadth of testing services and capabilities, [Eurofins] is uniquely positioned to meet the expanding service needs of NTD's customers."

In recent years, Eurofins has bought multiple diagnostic testing labs in the US and abroad. The list includes French specialty diagnostic testing lab Biomnis, which Eurofins bought for approximately €220 million ($248 million); and Boston Heart Diagnostics, which it acquired for up to $200 million. Eurofins also has a 75 percent stake in the Emory Genetics Laboratory.

PerkinElmer's NTD laboratory services business generated approximately $20 million in revenue in 2015. Excluding any potential gain from the sale, the firm said it doesn't expect the divestiture to have a material impact on its 2016 earnings per share guidance provided on Feb. 4. At that time, the company said it expected earnings from continuing operations of $2.21 per share to $2.31 per share. On an adjusted basis, it expects EPS of $2.65 to $2.75.

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