Lab Equipment Maker Thermo Fisher To Buy Affymetrix For $1.3B

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world’s largest maker of scientific instruments, signed an agreement to buy Affymetrix Inc. for $1.3 billion in cash, the company announced Friday. Following the announcement, shares of Affymetrix surged almost 50 percent in after-market trade.

Thermo Fisher said it would finance the $14-a share offer using cash on hand as well as short-term debt. The deal, expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2016, would add 10 cents to adjusted profit within a year of ownership. Following the acquisition, Affymetrix will be integrated into Thermo Fisher's Life Sciences Solutions segment. The company expects to cut annual overlapping costs by about $70 million by the third year after the transaction closes.

Affymetrix — a Santa Clara, California company — makes tools for genomic analysis and genetic testing, and had revenue of about $350 million in 2014. Adding Affymetrix’s products will help Thermo Fisher beef up its range of laboratory equipment used in genetic testing and DNA analysis, according to Thermo Fisher’s press release announcing the agreement.

Thermo Fisher also said it would use its greater market presence to offer Affymetrix products to wider markets in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China.

The deal is the second acquisition in the genetic-testing equipment business by Thermo Fisher. The Waltham, Massachusetts company paid $15.4 billion for Life Technologies Corp., a maker of DNA analysis technologies, in February 2014 — its largest deal ever.

Shares of Thermo Fisher showed little change on the New York Stock Exchange after the announcement.