On Sept. 2, MDS announced the sale of its mass spectrometrybusiness, MDS Analytical Technologies, to Danaher Corp., an instrumentmanufacturer based in Washington, D.C., for $650 million in cash. Under aseparate but concurrent arrangement, Danaher has agreed to purchase the portionof AB SCIEX, the
Applied Biosystems/
MDS Analytical Technologies massspectrometry joint venture held by
Life Technologies Corp. The aggregatepurchase price for the combined transactions was $1.1 billion. The company alsoannounced that it intends to sell its MDS Pharma Services business, a leadingprovider of drug discovery and early-stage development solutions forpharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. (See
MDS sells mass spec businessto Danaher for $650 million,
ddn October2009.)
Assuming completion of these proposed sales, MDS will remaina publicly traded entity consisting solely of its MDS Nordion business, whichprovides medical isotopes for molecular and diagnostic imaging,radiotherapeutics and sterilization technologies.
"The divestiture of our Central Labs operation is anothermilestone in the company's repositioning strategy," said Stephen P. DeFalco,president and CEO of MDS Inc., in a statement.
Czura Thornton Co-Founder Nick Thornton said the companyintends to "build and strengthen" the Central Lab business, working in tandemwith Chiltern, the company's wholly owned CRO, but run separately.
"We believe the business' international platform,world-class facilities and highly skilled people will enhance our strong clientrelationships," Thornton said in a statement.
