Washington, D.C.-based conglomerate Danaher Corp. is planning to raise money through a stock sale to help pay for its pending $6.8 billion acquisition of Brea’s Beckman Coulter Inc.
Danaher plans to offer 17.5 million shares of common stock. Proceeds are set to be used toward the Beckman deal, according to Danaher.
The company didn’t offer a date or price for the share offering. Danaher, best known as the maker of Craftsman tools sold at Sears stores, had a recent market value of $35 billion.
The deal for Beckman, a maker of medical testing equipment and supplies, was announced in February and is expected to close in the second half of this year.
Danaher, which has annual sales of around $13 billion, sought Beckman in order to boost its life sciences and diagnostic segments.
Beckman was the subject of about two months of offers and jockeying by private equity firms, Danaher and others.
It started exploring offers after a difficult 2010 where it wrestled with quality and regulatory issues and saw the departure of longtime chief executive Scott Garrett.
