丹纳赫将收购贝克曼库尔特

丹纳赫68亿美元收购贝克曼诊断学业务，向生命科学领域进军

一位实验室人员正在使用贝克曼库尔特的自动化仪器

　　丹纳赫已经同意以68亿美元（现金和债券总和）的价格收购生物医疗和实验室自动化仪器供应商贝克曼库尔特。丹纳赫是一家多元化的控股公司，拥有显微镜、水处理技术和手持式仪器业务。

　　丹纳赫向贝克曼报出的每股83.5美元的价格，高出贝克曼2010年12月9日股票收盘价的45%，该天也正是传出收购消息的前一天。贝克曼公司为诊断和药物研发提供各种实验室仪器，每年可获得37亿美元的收入。

　　近几年，丹纳赫已经在扩展了其在生命科学和诊断方面的业务。2009年9月，丹纳赫以11亿美元从 MDS 和 Life Technologies那里收购了AB Sciex公司的质谱业务。这一收购项目促使丹纳赫跻身全球仪器公司的前10位。

　　这一交易引起了仪器公司收购热潮。2010年5月，作为增加其在分析和生命科学市场曝光率的策略之一，安捷伦科技以15亿美元完成了对瓦里安的收购。同年12月，赛默飞世尔科技以21亿美元收购液相色谱和离子色谱的领导者之一美国戴安公司。

　　贝克曼公司近几年将主要业务集中在生命科学领域。贝克曼公司由Arnold O. Beckman于1935年创立，以销售其第一支商品化pH计起家。1997年，贝克曼收购了库尔特公司及其血液测试仪器业务，并于2009年，贝克曼的业务已经扩展到临床化学领域。但贝克曼公司一直以来的好运在去年6月开始衰落，当时贝克曼接到了FDA的一封警告信，信中表示贝克曼未经适当许可便开始销售用于急性心肌梗塞的生物标记试剂盒。 出乎意料的是，Scott Garrett于9月辞去了贝克曼公司 CEO一职。

　　Standard & Poor’s公司的一位股票分析家Efraim Levy讲到，生命科学公司对于丹纳赫来说是非常有吸引力的，因为丹纳赫正在寻求快速增长、以科技为基础的业务，可以带来高额利润及全球业务增长的机会。Levy还指出，“贝克曼的业务与丹纳赫自身的业务有一定相似之处。”

　　参考英文原文

Danaher Will Buy Beckman Coulter

Diagnostics: $6.8 billion acquisition expands Danaher’s move into life sciences

　　Danaher has agreed to acquire biomedical and lab automation equipment maker Beckman Coulter for $6.8 billion in cash and debt. Danaher is a diversified holding company that owns businesses as varied as microscopes, water treatment technologies, and hand tools.

　　Danaher’s $83.50-per-share offer for Beckman represents a 45% premium on the closing price of Beckman’s stock on Dec. 9, 2010, the day before rumors of a sale began. With annual revenues of some $3.7 billion, Beckman sells laboratory equipment for diagnostics and drug discovery.

　　In recent years, Danaher has been adding to its life sciences and diagnostics segment. In September 2009, the company paid $1.1 billion to acquire mass spectrometry firm AB Sciex from its two owners, MDS and Life Technologies. The purchase pushed Danaher into the top 10 among global instrumentation firms (C&EN, April 26, 2010, page 22).

　　That deal set off a busy season for instrumentation acquisitions. In May 2010, Agilent Technologies completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of Varian, part of a strategy to boost its exposure to the analytics and life sciences markets. And in December 2010, Thermo Fisher Scientific said it would pay $2.1 billion to buy Dionex, a leader in liquid and ion chromatography.

　　Beckman’s focus on the life sciences is fairly recent. The company was founded in 1935 to sell the first commercial pH meter, invented by Arnold O. Beckman. In 1997, it acquired Coulter and its blood-testing instruments. Beckman expanded into clinical chemistry systems in 2009. But the firm’s fortunes dipped last June when it received an FDA warning letter saying it did not seek proper approval to sell a biomarker assay for acute myocardial infarction. The company’s CEO, Scott Garrett, unexpectedly resigned in September.

　　Life sciences companies are attractive targets for Danaher because it looks for fast-growing, technology-based businesses that bring high margins and an opportunity for international growth, says Efraim Levy, an equities analyst at Standard & Poor’s. In addition, Levy points out, “Beckman has some similarities to Danaher’s own businesses.”

　　英文原文链接：Danaher Will Buy Beckman Coulter