Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) and Varian, Inc. (NasdaqGS: VARI) announced thursday January 21 that they have been granted conditional antitrust clearance from the European Commission for Agilent's proposed acquisition of Varian.
As part of the European Commission's clearance decision, Agilent and
Varian have committed to sell:
- Varian's laboratory gas chromatography (GC) business;
- Varian's triple quadrupole gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
(GC-MS triple quad) business;
- Varian's inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)
business; and,
- Agilent's micro gas chromatography (micro GC) business.
Agilent and Varian have initiated a process for selling these
businesses, and have already engaged with a number of interested
purchasers. The aggregate fiscal 2009 revenues of these four businesses
were under $100 million.
"The European Commission's decision is a key milestone toward
completing the transaction that will bring our two firms together," said
Agilent President and CEO Bill Sullivan. "We are pleased to have
received conditional clearance from the Commission. We are committed to
ensuring that each of these four businesses is successfully divested as a
viable, competitive business and that all customers remain fully
supported during and beyond the divestiture process.
"While we would like to have retained all of the businesses of both
companies, these divestitures are not material. We remain very excited
about bringing these two companies together to better serve worldwide
bio-analytical customers with a broader portfolio of products and
services."
Clearance by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is still
pending, although Agilent and Varian do not expect the FTC to seek
additional remedies in markets beyond those committed to for the
European Commission.
Agilent's acquisition of Varian remains subject to other regulatory
approvals and customary closing conditions. Agilent expects the
acquisition to close in early calendar 2010.
Source: Agilent Technologies
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last time modified: June 29, 2020
