Toronto, Canada 1/25/10; Toronto, Canada 1/27/10; Washington, DC 1/27/10—The sale of MDS Analytical Technologies to Danaher (see IBO 9/15/09) is expected to close by the end of the first quarter, following the resolution of PerkinElmer’s legal challenge and the approval of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). MDS has signed a settlement agreement with PerkinElmer, ending PerkinElmer’s legal action against MDS, which sought an alternative to the sale (see IBO 12/15/09). Terms were not disclosed. On January 27, the FTC provisionally approved the sale, pending the divestiture of MDS’s Arcturus laser microdissection device business to Life Technologies. The FTC stated that Arcturus and Danaher’s Leica business are two of four competitors in the North American market for laser microdissection devices, and the combination would have led to increased prices and decreased innovation. Comments on the proposed order will be accepted until March 1, after which a decision to finalize the order will be made.