FTC forces sale of MDS lasers business after Danaher buyout

January 28, 2010 by MassDevice staff

The Federal Trade Commission will force the sale of MDS Inc.'s (NYSE:MDZ) laser-microdissection unit to Life Technologies Corp. (NSDQ:LIFE) after Danaher Corp. (NYSE:DHR) completes its $650 million buyout of MDS.

The anti-trust watchdog wants to make sure that two of the four North American suppliers of the devices don't wind up under the same corporate roof, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

After Danaher agreed last year to buy MDS's Analytical Technologies business and a 50 percent stake in a joint venture (plus $450 million to Life Technologies for the rest of the stake in mass spectrometry business AB SCIEX), PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE:PKI) sued MDS to block the transaction. That lawsuit and another alleging patent infringement were settled earlier this week, clearing the way for the Danaher deal.

It's unclear whether PerkinElmer intends to continue its collaboration with the Analytical Technologies unit now that the sale to Washington, D.C.-based Danaher has been approved by U.S. anti-trust regulators.

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