BIO-RAD Laboratories has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AbD Serotec, a supplier of antibodies and reagents, from MorphoSys, for €53 million (about US$70 million) in cash. The transaction is expected to be completed in January 2013.
“We are impressed with the quality of AbD Serotec’s products as well as the company’s reputation,” said Brad Crutchfield, president of Bio-Rad Life Science Group.
“With this acquisition, Bio-Rad will have access to a comprehensive catalogue of antibodies allowing us to offer assays that can be validated on our research platforms for western blotting, multiplex protein expression, Elisa, and cell sorting. In addition, we will be able to exploit a powerful in vitro technology to accelerate future antibody generation.”
UPDATE: Bio-Rad has said that the headline of this article may be misleading, because although it has “signed a definitive agreement to acquire AbD Serotec”, this isn’t the same as closing the deal. That, as we reported in the first paragraph, is expected to happen in January 2o13. So, to be clear, the definitive agreement has been signed but the deal isn’t ‘closed’ until completion next month. -Ed.