Roche May Bid for Life Technologies
Among the reasons given for the higher likelihood of Danaher or Thermo acquiring the company was greater financial resources, and thus a higher offer price, due to the ability to implement cost cuts through synergies. In a March 13 Bloomberg article, Robert W. Baird & Co. stated that it expects the company to be acquired for a minimum of $65 per share, compared with Bloomberg’s calculations of analysts’ expected 12-month average stock price for the company of $53.24 prior to the takeover speculation.
New York, NY 3/19/13; New York, NY 3/22/13—Reuters reported that Roche is contemplating a bid to acquire Life Technologies (see IBO 1/31/13, 2/28/13, 3/15/13), according to anonymous sources. However, Bloomberg later reported that Roche was only considering a purchase of part of the company. Two sources told Bloomberg that industry companies, such as Danaher or Thermo Fisher Scientific, are likely to prevail over private equity firms in the auction. Bloomberg reported that KKR, which Reuters reported had partnered with Hellman & Friedman to consider a bid, has dropped out of the process, as has TPG, which was part of the consortium consisting of Blackstone, Carlyle and Temasek.
