Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) agreed to pay an unspecified amount for Finnish polymerase chain reaction equipment maker Finnzyme, in a bid to bolster one of its own recent PCR assay offerings.
The Waltham, Mass.-based lab equipment maker said it inked the deal to acquire Espoo, Finland-based Finnzyme because that company’s proprietary DNA polymerases, Phire and Phusion, complement its own Solaris line of real-time quantitative PCR assays. The deal is expected to close during the first quarter.
Finnzyme has 90 employees and a 2009 top line of about $20 million, according to a press release. Besides Phire and Phusion, the company makes high-speed miniaturized thermal cyclers, plastic tubes and plates. It will operate primarily under Thermo Fisher‘s analytical technologies umbrella, with some equipment and consumables product lines going to TMO’s laboratory products and services unit.
It’s the deal of the week for Thermo Fisher, which Jan. 27 inked a deal to sell $2 million worth of cancer diagnostic equipment through a Russian distributor and Jan. 19 agreed to spend at least $145 million acquiring Ahura Scientific, a Wilmington, Mass.-based handheld spectroscopy equipment manufacturer.
TMO lowered its guidance for the full year after third-quarter sales dipped 2.2 percent and net income rose 1.4 percent. The company posted sales of $2.53 billion during the three months ended Sept. 26, compared with $2.59 billion during the same period last year. Net income rose to $221.2 million for the quarter, compared with $218.1 million during the the 2008 third quarter. Thermo Fisher is slated to release its fourth-quarter numbers Feb. 3.