Venlo, The Netherlands and Melbourne, Australia 4/3/11—QIAGEN has agreed to acquire Cellestis for AUD 341 million ($355 million = AUD 0.96 = $1) in cash, or AUD 3.55 ($3.70) per share, a 24% premium to the closing price on April 1. Cellestis is in the early stages of commercializing diagnostic tests based on its QuantiFERON-CMV technology for early disease detection and monitoring. QuantiFERON-CMV tests whole blood samples for the presence of systemically amplified molecular analytes, which provide information from the immune system’s memory. “Cellestis has developed a technology that is highly complementary to our portfolio and which we expect to migrate onto our QIAsymphony, QIAensemble and our point-of-need platforms, thereby adding a new, unique assay menu to these QIAGEN platforms,” stated QIAGEN CEO Peer Schatz. In fiscal 2010, Cellestis’s revenues grew 17% to AUD 40.4 million ($42.0 million), and adjusted operating profit rose 26% to AUD 10.2 million ($10.6 million). The acquisition is expected to be moderately dilutive to 2011 adjusted EPS and $0.02–$0.03 accretive to adjusted EPS in 2012. QIAGEN expects sales of QuantiFERON products to grow in double digits in 2012.