General Electric Co.’s (NYSE:GE) healthcare unit has agreed to acquire molecular diagnostics firm Clarient Inc. (NASDAQ:CLRT) for about $587 million in cash.
GE is growing its disease-diagnosis business and said the cancer profiling market will increase from its 2009 $15 billion value to $47 billion by 2015.
The deal stipulates a $20 price per preferred share and $5 price per common share, representing a 33 percent premium over CLRT’s $3.77 closing price yesterday. The company’s shares were going for $4.97 in mid-morning trading.
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Since 2005, Clarient’s revenues have grown at a 68 percent compounded annual rate, according to GE Healthcare. Clarient recorded 2009 sales of just under $92 million, according its last annual earnings report.
“Adding Clarient’s leading technology to our portfolio will accelerate our expansion into cancer diagnostics and therapy selection tools, while strongly enhancing our current diagnostic and life sciences offerings. We believe we can build a $1 billion-plus business by developing integrated diagnostic solutions for cancer and other diseases,” GE Healthcare CEO John Dineen said in prepared remarks.
Clarient’s board unanimously approved the deal; so far, 47 percent of its stockholders have agreed to tender their shares at the proposed price, according to the company.
Lifescience holding company Safeguard Scientifics Inc. (NYSE:SFE), which owns approximately 26 percent of Clarient’s outstanding shares, supports the merger deal. Safeguard expects to net about $145 million from the transaction, the company said.
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The deal is expected to close in late 2010 or early 2011.
The Massachusetts Medical Devices Journal is the online journal of the medical devices industry in the Commonwealth and New England, providing day-to-day coverage of the devices that save lives, the people behind them, and the burgeoning trends and developments within the industry.
