The bidding war continues.
A week after Fullerton’s Beckman Coulter Inc. raised its takeover bid for San Diego’s Biosite Inc., rival suitor Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. of Massachusetts upped the ante again Thursday.
Inverness, a maker of medical testing and consumer products, now is offering $92.50 a share for Biosite.
Last week, Beckman raised its bid by $5 a share to match Inverness’ previous offer of $90 a share.
The latest Inverness offer values Biosite at about $1.72 billion.
The public bidding for Biosite, a maker of diagnostic tests for heart diseases and other conditions, started in March when Beckman Coulter offered $85 per share, 53% more than what Biosite was worth before the offer.
The big premium priced in a behind-the-scenes bidding war that included Inverness. The rival suitors now have taken the chase public, with the latest offer from Inverness marking the fourth, including Beckman’s original bid.
Waltham, Mass.-based Inverness already owns 5% of Biosite. On Thursday, Biosite said it plans to hold talks with Inverness about its latest offer.
A spokesman for Beckman declined to comment. Beckman makes machines and supplies for medical testing labs and researchers.
