Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) said late yesterday that it accepted a $4 billion offer from private equity giant Carlyle Group to acquire its Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics blood testing business.
Carlyle beat out several other PE shops with a $4.15 billion bid in January, saying last month that it would name ex- Roche and Millipore CEO Martin Madaus as CEO of Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics.
Today Johnson & Johnson said it still expects to close the sale "toward the middle of the year."
The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health products giant revealed Jan. 16 that Carlyle submitted a binding offer for $4.15 billion, snaking the diagnostics business away from several other PE groups said to include the Blackstone Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and BC Partners. A 2nd round of bids in November was rumored to involve a combined bid from Danaher (NYSE:DHR) and Blackstone and another combined offer from CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners.
Carlyle tapped Madaus for the corner office at Raritan, N.J.-based Ortho-Clinical in February. The business, which last year generated $1.89 billion or 2.6% of total sales for J&J, is a major global player in screening, diagnostics, monitoring and disease identification. Carlyle said it plans to push expansion into emerging and established markets and to make "accelerated" investments in research and product development.
