Millipore acquires Guava Technologies
16 February 2009
Millipore Corporation (NYSE: MIL), a leading provider of
technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry,
has entered into an agreement to acquire Guava Technologies, 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 $22.6 million,
subject to closing adjustments, to acquire Guava. Guava generated
approximately $22 million 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.
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