As IBO examined in its November 15 issue, 2010 has been a busy year for acquisitions in the analytical instrument and laboratory product industry, which is consistent with the record year for acquisition activities in many industries. As a potential sign of more to come, three lab product companies have recently hinted at their acquisition plans.

Life Technologies is no stranger to acquisitions. On the company’s October third-quarter conference call, Chairman and CEO Gregory Lucier stated: “In keeping with our philosophy of balanced capital deployment, the level of investment to acquire technologies will now come down in the next 24 months to approximately $100 million or so per year.” This year, the company has announced three acquisitions (see IBO 4/30/10, 6/15/10, 8/31/10).

Corning, another companies targeting the life sciences, also plans to grow that business through acquisitions. Corning Vice President and CFO James Flaws told analysts on its third-quarter conference call: “In Life Sciences, we have a goal to make it be a $1 billion business. Most of that growth will come from acquisitions.” Nine-month revenue for Corning’s Life Sciences business totaled $368 million, including a year of sales from Axygen BioSciences (see IBO 9/15/30).

Outside of the life sciences, Oxford Instruments Chief Executive Jonathan Flint has detailed acquisition plans. In a November interview with Reuters, Mr. Flint stated that the company is interested in bolt-on acquisitions of high-technology companies located in either Germany or the US with market capitalizations of around $50 million. The firm’s last active acquisition period was in 2008 (see IBO 5/31/08).