STORY UPDATE
LA JOLLA, Calif.—June 7, 2007—At a price tag of about $250 million, Agilent announced it completed its acquisition of Stratagene. The company suggests the acquisition will have no impact on its earnings-per-share guidance, and projects its Q3 revenue guidance to be $1.38 billion to $1.42 billion. The company also completed sales of specific assets to Decisive Diagnostics, a new company formed by former Stratagene chair and CEO Dr. Joseph Sorge.
LA JOLLA, Calif.—Instrumentation specialist Agilent Technologies and consumables specialist Stratagene announced the latter will be acquired by and become a division within Agilent's Life Sciences Solutions Unit. The deal will see Stratagene common stock converted to cash payments of $10.94 per share, a 28% premium over its April 5, 2007 closing price of $8.51.
"We see Stratagene's technology, products and expertise as being highly complementary to Agilent's life sciences portfolio, enabling us to offer our customers more complete workflow solutions," said Nick Roelofs, VP and GM of the Agilent unit. "Stratagene has a strong R&D team as well as excellent presence in the important academic and government markets."
Dramatically expanding its life science offerings, Agilent's acquisition of Stratagene should help the company better position itself against research supplier juggernauts like Thermo Fisher Scientific and Invitrogen.
The deal will also see Stratagene Founder, Chairman, and CEO Dr. Joseph Sorge form a new company, focused on molecular diagnostics and built on specific Stratagene assets that he will purchase for $6.6 million. "I'm looking forward to having more time to focus on research and discovery and making a difference in human healthcare," Sorge says.
