GE Healthcare Buys Several Thermo Fisher Businesses

GE Healthcare, a division of General Electric Company, has agreed to acquire Thermo Fisher Scientific’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 offering of technologies for the discovery and manufacturing of innovative new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics in its growing Life Sciences division.

The buy is hoped to enable GE Healthcare to expand and accelerate the development of end-to-end technologies for cell biology research, cell therapy and for the manufacture of innovative biological medicines and vaccines. According to the company, the acquisition is consistent with GE’s strategy to invest in high-technology, innovative businesses that deliver strong top-line growth and expanded margins. GE’s acquisition of the businesses, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the first part of 2014.

“Life Sciences is one of our strongest and fastest-growing business areas, driven by the world’s demand for improved diagnostics and new, safer medicines,” said John Dineen, president and CEO of GE Healthcare. “Combining GE’s engineering expertise with our capabilities in life sciences is already bringing great benefits to industry, research and patients. This deal makes a good business even better and will help us realize our vision of bringing better healthcare to more people at lower cost.”

Cell culture plays a key role in manufacturing medicines to treat diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as a new generation of vaccines. Thermo Fisher’s Hyclone cell culture media and sera products are reportedly complementary to GE Healthcare’s established technologies for cell biology research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, enabling GE to offer its customers a substantially wider range of technologies and services.

GE Healthcare 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 Hyclone cell culture and other businesses joining the GE family…are a great fit with our key areas of focus, and bring exciting new technologies, enhanced manufacturing capabilities as well as a great group of talented people to help grow our business,” said 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,” Murphy added. “This acquisition is a significant step forward for our customers in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. They will benefit immediately from an expanded range of ‘start-to-finish’ technologies that will help them improve product yields and reduce time-to-market. 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.”

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

GE Healthcare’s global headquarters are in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.