Company Announcements

Metrohm opened a regional support center in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, in 2008.

Life Technologies stated in a January SEC filing that Invitrogen used a purchase price of $22.50 per share (the price per share two days before the merger) to value its acquisition of Applied Biosystems (see IBO 11/30/08), resulting in an aggregate transaction value of $5.1 billion.

Total fourth-quarter sales for GE Healthcare Life Sciences increased 13%, and equipment orders rose 20%.

Lonza Bioscience’s 2008 revenue grew 17.5%, 7.8% organically, to CHF 222 million ($206 million) (see IBO 3/15/09). EBITDA declined 23.3% to CHF 33 million ($31 million). Cell Therapy and Media sales were strong. Rapid Testing sales were below target. Cell Discovery & Molecular Biology sales were slightly below target. A Molecular Biology business unit was formed during the year.

Proxeon A/S completed a capital increase of DKK 14 million ($2.4 million) in February.

Roche Applied Science’s 2008 revenue increased 19%, 23% in US dollars, to CHF 765 million ($708 million) to account for 8% of Roche Diagnostics sales. Array sales rose 283%, Sequencing sales increased 82%, Research sales grew 8% and Industrial sales rose 2%.

John Dickson and Philip Geier announced plans to retire from Mettler-Toledo’s Board.

Varian elected President and CEO Garry W. Rogerson chairman, replacing Allen J. Lauer, who retired in February due to the Board’s age limit.

Agiltron, a developer of photonic components and systems, acquired the assets of SensArray, a supplier of IR detectors and subsystems for spectroscopic and analytical applications, in February.

Oxford Instruments announced in February that it plans to close its Chicago, US, site and its facility in Hobro, Denmark. The company also decided to curtail further R&D in the area of hyperpolarization due to slower pharmaceutical spending. As a result, 230 positions, or 15% of Oxford’s workforce, will be eliminated, including 50 layoffs announced in November 2008. Cash savings are expected to be £11.4 million ($16.5 million) in fiscal 2010.

Andor Technology announced in January that it terminated discussions with Photonis Holding SAS about a potential offer. Last fall, Andor rejected offers by Carraig Capital and Thorndale (see IBO 9/15/08).

Millipore opened an 8,000-square-foot Biomanufacturing Sciences and Training Center in Singapore.

Merck KGaA Performance & Life Science Chemicals reported that 2008 sales for its Laboratory Business declined 1.6% and rose 2.5% on a currency-adjusted basis. Asian sales grew 6.5% and Latin American sales increased 7.4%. European sales were stable, but North American sales declined. Life Science Solutions revenue increased 7.9% , up 10% on a currency-adjusted basis, to account for around one-third of division sales, as sales grew 16% in North American and 19% in Latin America.