GE Acquires Cell Culture Media and Sera Assets from Thermo Fisher Scientific

GE Healthcare and Thermo Fisher Scientific have entered into an agreement for GE to acquire Thermo Fisher’s HyClone cell culture media and sera, and gene modulation and magnetic beads businesses for approximately $1.06 billion. The acquisition will allow GE to expand its technologies for the discovery and manufacturing of new medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics in its life sciences business. GE’s acquisition of the businesses, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the first part of 2014.

Thermo Fisher’s HyClone cell culture media and sera products are complementary to GE Healthcare’s technologies for cell biology research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, allowing GE to offer a wider range of technologies and services.

GE will also acquire Thermo Fisher’s gene modulation technologies, which complement GE’s established technologies for drug discovery research, and the Sera-Mag magnetic beads product line, which extends GE’s existing technologies in protein analysis and medical diagnostics.

The three acquired businesses generated combined annual revenues of approximately $250 million in 2013.

In November 2013, the European Commission (EC) cleared the proposed acquisition of Life Technologies by Thermo Fisher Scientific conditioned on Thermo Fisher Scientific’s divestments of three business lines, including media and sera for cell culture. The EC determined that in these areas, the merger, as initially notified, would have significantly reduced competition.

Source: GE Healthcare