Beckman Coulter Inc., the Brea-based medical testing and research products maker, is drawing interest from several bidders, according to a Bloomberg report.
Danaher Corp., a Washington, D.C. conglomerate that owns Orange-based Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and several private equity firms are said to be considering offers for Beckman.
Bloomberg quoted three unidentified people with knowledge of the matter, who said that first-round bids for Beckman, which had a recent market value of about $5 billion, are due this week.
Beckman has declined to comment on any talk of a sale, which emerged earlier this month.
Besides Danaher and Thermo Fisher, a scientific instrument maker, potential private equity bidders for Beckman include Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.; Bain Capital LLC, Apollo Global Management LLC and Blackstone Group LP, according to Bloomberg.
If Beckman is sold, the company may command as much as a 180% premium over its closing price on Dec. 9, when people familiar with the matter said the company was exploring a sale, according to Bloomberg.
Analysts have said that other potential Beckman bidders could include drug makers such as Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis, Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, N.J., as well as fellow medical diagnostic makers such as Chicago’s Abbott Laboratories and Germany’s Siemens AG.
For more on this story, see the Dec. 27 edition of the Business Journal.
