Millipore Expands Cell Biology Offering With Acquisition Of Guava Technologies
Millipore Corporation, a leading provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Guava Technologies (Guava), a provider of easy-to-use, bench top cell analysis systems. The acquisition follows the distribution and co-development partnership the two companies announced in March 2008.
Under the terms of the agreement, Millipore will pay $22.6M, subject to closing adjustments, to acquire Guava. Guava generated approximately $22M in sales during 2008. The transaction is expected to be slightly accretive to Millipore's non-GAAP earnings per share during 2009 and is expected to close in the next two weeks.
"The acquisition of Guava represents another step forward in the transformation of our Bioscience Division," said Martin Madaus, Chairman & CEO of Millipore. "Over the past three years, Millipore has become a life science leader with the product breadth and expertise to create platform solutions that enable our customers to work more efficiently. With the Guava acquisition, we will bring the power of our flow cytometry platform to all cell biologists by combining Guava's instruments with our broad range of fully-validated reagent kits."
Flow cytometry is a powerful research technique used by scientists to measure changes in protein expression in individual cells. Today, many of these experiments are conducted in centralized, or core, laboratories. Millipore and Guava are integrating instrumentation, reagent kits, validated protocols, and technical support to bring the advantages of flow cytometry to the bench tops of cell biologists. As a result, researchers who are growing or monitoring cells can benefit from this powerful analytical platform by conducting cell analysis at the bench rather than running routine assays at a core laboratory.
"Our vision is to make flow cytometry less expensive, easier to use, and more accessible for all research scientists," said Jonathan DiVincenzo, President of Millipore's Bioscience Division. "Additionally, by developing kits that are optimized for key research areas such as stem cell research, cancer biology, cell health, and biomarker discovery, scientists will no longer need to source reagents and develop their own assays. We exceeded our targets for placing Guava instruments in 2008 and we are excited about further increasing the adoption of our flow cytometry platform by accelerating our investments in R&D, sales and marketing."
Based in Hayward, California, Guava developed the industry's first commercial microcapillary flow cytometry system, which enables scientists to conduct flow cytometry using a small, bench top instrument. Micro-capillary flow cytometers accommodate smaller sample volumes, generate less waste, have lower operating costs, and are easier to set up and run than traditional flow cytometry instrumentation. Guava has a significant installed base of customers in the academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology markets. Guava's technology may also be used to develop new products for the Process Monitoring Tools segment of Millipore's Bioprocess Division. The Company expects to maintain Guava's manufacturing and commercial operations in Hayward, California.
About Millipore
Millipore is a Life Science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. As a strategic partner, we collaborate with customers to confront the world's challenging human health issues. From research to development to production, our scientific expertise and innovative solutions help customers tackle their most complex problems and achieve their goals. Millipore Corporation is an S&P 500 company with more than 6,000 employees in 47 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.millipore.com.
SOURCE: Millipore Corporation