Danaher to Purchase Beckman Coulter for $6.8 Billion

Danaher Corp. agreed to buy laboratory-equipment maker Beckman Coulter Inc. for $6.8 billion to add to its diagnostic products.

Danaher will start a tender offer of $83.50 a share for Beckman Coulter’s outstanding shares within seven days, the company said today in a statement. The total valuation includes available cash and net debt, Danaher said.

Danaher Chief Executive Officer Lawrence Culp said in December that the company would have about $4 billion for acquisitions during the next four to six quarters. So far in 2011, Danaher announced one purchase agreement, of Belgian software maker EskoArtwork for about $470 million.

The offer represents a premium of about 45 percent to Beckman Coulter’s closing price on Dec. 9, the day before speculation of a sale began, Danaher said. The average premium paid for more than 160 U.S. medical instrument companies in the past five years, based on the average share price in the 20 days before an announcement, was 40 percent. On that basis, Danaher’s premium for Beckman would be 15 percent.

The deal’s multiple of 7.1 times Beckman’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization compares with a median multiple of 26 in more than a dozen acquisitions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Beckman Coulter, the Brea, California-based maker of diagnostic lab testing equipment, has been exploring a sale after being approached by buyout firms interested in taking it private, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg in December.

Beckman Coulter Revenue

Danaher will weave Beckman Coulter into its Life Sciences division, which makes diagnostic equipment. The unit posted 2010 revenue of $2.3 billion, about 17 percent of the company’s total sales.

Beckman Coulter’s products are used to diagnose diseases and in the development of new drugs, and include centrifuges, hematology analyzers and cell sorters. The company had about 11,800 employees at the end of 2009, when it posted about $3.26 billion in sales.

Beckman climbed $7.40, or 9.8 percent, to $82.57 at 8:18 a.m., before the start of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Danaher, based in Washington, climbed $1.31, or 2.7 percent, to $49.29.