Abbott launches tender offer for Alere in $5.3B merger

Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today that it launched the tender offer for its $5.3 billion acquisition of diagnostics giant Alere (NYSE:ALR).

The $402-per-share tender offer is slated to expire at midnight on August 11, Abbott said. The merger was amended in April, when Abbott agreed to pay $5.3 billion for Alere rather than the original price of $5.8 billion.

The deal is expected close by the end of the third quarter.

Last week, Alere shareholders voted to approve the amended acquisition deal.

When anti-trust officials in the European Union approved the merger in January, they set conditions that Abbott sell some of Alere’s Triage tests. Today, Alere said that Quidel Corp. (NSDW:QDEL) plans to buy the company’s Triage MeterPro cardiovascular and toxicology assets and the BNP assay business.

The deal, which was agreed upon for an undisclosed amount, is slated to close by September 30, Quidel reported.

“We’ve been looking at acquisition opportunities in high-growth segments of the POC diagnostics market, such as cardiovascular, for several years, and believe that this strategic acquisition extends Quidel’s market leadership, adding an extensive cardiovascular and toxicology POC offering to our innovative medical diagnostics portfolio. The Triage acquisition significantly stabilizes our quarterly revenue profile and enhances our geographic and product diversity, with substantial expansion opportunities in new markets,”Quidel president & CEO Douglas Bryant said in prepared remarks.

“Further, while the installed base of Triage MeterPro instruments in the U.S. nicely complements the installed base of our Sofia and Solana platforms in the hospital segment, there will be new call points that our U.S. commercial organization can leverage as well. And internationally, the Triage MeterPro system gives us access to the rapidly evolving cardiac biomarker segment, one of the faster growing segments in the IVD market,” Bryant added. “We believe there are substantial benefits to be realized as we bring these strong organizations together, further establishing Quidel’s platform for growth and shareholder value creation opportunities.”

QDEL shares were up 13.5% this morning, trading at $30.83 apiece.

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