NEW YORK – Thermo Fisher Scientific said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Swedish proteomics firm Olink for approximately $3.1 billion in cash.
Under the terms of the deal, Thermo Fisher will acquire Olink for $26.00 per common share in cash, representing $26.00 per American Depositary Shares (ADS) in cash. This price represents a premium of approximately 74 percent to the closing price of Olink's ADS on the Nasdaq on Monday.
Thermo Fisher said it will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding Olink common shares and ADS. Summa Equity, Olink's largest shareholder, and additional Olink shareholders and management that together hold more than 63 percent of Olink's common shares have signed agreements supporting the tender offer, the company noted, and both companies' boards of directors have approved the deal.
The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2024 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and completion of the tender offer. The firm said it plans to fund the acquisition using cash on hand and debt financing.
Olink's Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology is used for high-throughput protein analysis and utilizes qPCR as well as next-gen sequencing for readout. Headquartered in Sweden with operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia Pacific, Olink currently offers a library of more than 5,300 valid protein biomarker targets.
"Olink's proven and transformative innovation is highly complementary to our leading mass spectrometry and life sciences platforms," Marc Casper, chairman, president, and CEO of Thermo Fisher, said in a statement. "Our company is uniquely positioned to bring this technology to customers enabling them to meaningfully accelerate discovery and scientific breakthroughs."
After the acquisition, Olink, which is on track to deliver over $200 million of revenue in 2024, will become part of Thermo Fisher's Life Sciences Solutions segment and is expected to grow "mid-teens organically," the firm said.
Olink previously projected 2023 revenues between $192 million and $200 million. It ended the second quarter with $151.2 million in cash and cash equivalents.