Brea-based medical diagnostic and research products company Beckman Coulter Inc. is considering a sale of the company, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Private equity firms and rival companies are said to be interested in Beckman.
The company has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to handle exploration of a sale, according to the Journal.
Beckman could sell for more than $5 billion, the report said. The company had a market value of about $4 billion at the close of trading Thursday.
The company’s shares were set to close up more than 25% Friday to a market value of $5 billion.
Private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Apollo Global Management LLC, both of New York, could be interested in buying Beckman, according to reports.
The company also has been a long-speculated acquisition target for bigger players in its industry.
They include Abbott Laboratories of the Chicago area, Germany’s Siemens AG and Roche Diagnostics Corp., part of Switzerland’s Roche Holdings Ltd.
Beckman makes testing machines and supplies used by hospitals, medical laboratories and researchers.
A potential sale could be weeks off and could fall through if offers come in lower than what Beckman expected, the Journal said, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The news caps a turbulent year for Beckman.
Beckman has spent most of 2010 addressing quality and regulatory issues stemming from a March recall of a test used to detect heart attacks.
The test detects troponin, a protein found in blood after a heart attack. Beckman made undisclosed changes to the test that resulted in higher readings when run on its DxI machine, a workhorse used by hospitals and labs to run tests for doctors.
The recall prompted a downward revision in the company’s 2010 profit projection and drove a big drop in its shares.
It also led to the departure of former chief executive Scott Garrett in September.
Robert Hurley is serving as Beckman’s interim chief executive. He has been Beckman’s senior vice president of human resources and played a leading role in the company’s $800 million acquisition last year of Olympus Corp.’s diagnostics business.
