Fisher Scientific International Inc. said on Wednesday it plans to acquire Apogent Technologies Inc. in a deal worth $3.7 billion to expand in the market for drug research and diagnostic tools.
Apogent shareholders will receive 0.56 share of Fisher's common stock for each share of Apogent common stock held. The deal values Apogent at $29.30 per share, based on Fisher's closing price of $52.32 per share on Tuesday.
Shares of Apogent closed at $27.78 on Tuesday.
Fisher said it expects to achieve cost-cuts of about $55 million in 2005 and up to $100 million on an annualized basis by year-end 2006. It said the deal will have no effect, excluding one-time charges, on earnings in 2004, and will add 15 cents a share to earnings in 2005.
Fisher has been on an acquisition spree recently.
In February, it agreed to acquire two privately held companies for a total of $410 million. Those companies are Oxoid Group Holdings Ltd., which makes tools that test for bacterial contamination, and Dharmacon, which produces synthesized RNA for genetic research.
Last June, Fisher agreed last June to buy Sweden's Perbio Science AB for about $714 million, bolstering its life-sciences business.
