Private equity bidders for Brea-based Beckman Coulter Inc. are joining forces and the field of potential corporate buyers has narrowed, according to a Reuters report.
Blackstone Group LP and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., both of New York, are joining forces on a bid, according to unnamed sources quoted by Reuters.
New York-based Apollo Global Management LLC could team with Carlyle Group of Washington, D.C., on a Beckman bid.
Boston’s Bain Capital bid on Beckman in a first round but since has pulled back, according to the report.
Some corporate bidders are said to have dropped out of the bidding with two remaining.
One of which is Danaher Corp., a Washington, D.C.- based conglomerate that owns Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., the Orange maker of dental products.
Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was said to be an earlier bidder. It’s unclear whether Thermo still is in the running.
Beckman, which makes machines and chemicals used by medical testing labs and researchers, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore a sale.
The company had a recent market value of $5 billion, after a 20% spike on word of possible buyout interest in December.
Beckman is wrestling with quality and regulatory issues stemming from a spring recall of a profitable heart disease test known as troponin.
The recall drove a big stock drop and 2010 profit revision, and likely attracted private equity firms as possible buyers.
Private equity firms could be looking to take Beckman private and give it cover as it works through its issues before taking it public again.
Initial offers for Beckman were due before Christmas.
Beckman reportedly encouraged private equity firms to join forces for a second round of bidding.
