Thermo Puts Cole-Parmer Up for Sale
Cole-Parmer manufactures and distributes a range of lab and industrial products, including fluid-handling and electrochemistry instrumentation. The sale would help Thermo to more rapidly pay down its debt, which totaled $16.3 billion as of April. In May, Thermo estimated that it would be able to achieve its target leverage of 2.8x–2.9x debt, or $12.5–$12.9 billion, in the third quarter of 2015.
New York, NY 5/29/14—Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg has reported that Thermo Fisher Scientific intends to sell its Cole-Parmer Instrument business, which supplies lab equipment. Cole-Parmer has annual EBITDA of $50 million. The sources stated the sale price could range from $500 million to $700 million. Thermo acquired Cole-Parmer as part of its 2006 purchase of Fisher Scientific (see IBO 5/15/06). Fisher acquired Cole-Parmer in 2001 (see IBO 9/15/01).
