Thermo Fisher Scientific Sells Assets to Expedite Life Technologies Acquisition

Thermo Fisher Scientific (California, USA) has signed an agreement with GE Healthcare (St Giles, UK) to sell business assets for $1.06 billion. Thermo Fisher committed to sell its cell culture, gene modulation, and magnetic beads businesses in 2013 to expedite approval of its pending acquisition of Life Technologies by the European Commission.

The combined revenue of the three businesses, which form part of Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Technologies Segment, is estimated to be $250 million in 2013. Kieran Murphy, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences division, said: “In addition to providing us with new approaches to drug discovery and biomedical research, this acquisition is a significant step forward for our customers in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.” He added: “By expanding our production facilities to three continents, we will be able to offer the biopharmaceutical industry greater confidence in the security of supply of cell culture media and sera, a key part of their production process.”

For further information visit www.gehealthcare.com