Thermo Fisher Scientific has increased its takeover offer for Qiagen, after its original offer was reportedly criticised by some shareholders as being undervalued.
Under the revised offer, Thermo Fisher will pay a price of €43 per Qiagen share in cash, compared to €39 per share in the previous offer.
The amended acquisition agreement also includes a reduction of the minimum acceptance threshold from 75% to 66.67% of Qiagen’s issued and outstanding ordinary share capital.
Thermo Fisher has also agreed to pay a $95m expense reimbursement if it fails to reach minimum acceptance threshold.
The revised offer values the genetic test manufacturer Qiagen at €11.3bn.
Thermo Fisher Scientific chairman, president and chief executive officer Marc Casper said: “Industry dynamics have changed considerably in the past few months, creating tailwinds and headwinds for our businesses. Both of our companies are playing important roles in helping customers to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided to increase our offer for QIAGEN to reflect the fair value of the business given the current environment.
“We remain confident that this transaction will create shareholder value and, importantly, provide meaningful benefits to our customers and society by combining our capabilities to combat infectious diseases and other healthcare issues. We continue to look forward to completing the transaction in the first half of 2021.”
Qiagen seeing strong demand for coronavirus test products
Reuters reported that Thermo Fisher was under pressure from some Qiagen shareholders to increase its takeover offer, after the Netherlands-based recently said that it is seeing a strong demand for its coronavirus testing products.
The acquisition of Qiagen will allow Thermo Fisher to expand its specialty diagnostics portfolio with advanced molecular diagnostics capabilities, including infectious disease testing.
Qiagen offers life science and molecular diagnostic solutions to more than 500,000 customers across the globe.
Its sample preparation technologies will help extract, isolate and purify DNA, RNA and proteins from a range of biological samples.
