Thermo Fisher has agreed to pay $3.1 billion to acquire Sweden’s Olink Holding to expand its capabilities in the proteomics market, the two companies announced Tuesday.
Olink’s technology provides high-throughput analysis for a large installed base of quantitative PCR and next-generation sequencing systems used by biopharma companies and academic researchers to study disease at the protein level. Its library contains more than 5,300 validated protein biomarker targets.
Thermo Fisher, a manufacturer of scientific instruments and laboratory equipment, said the acquisition will be “highly complementary” to its mass spectrometry and life sciences platforms.
“The acquisition of Olink underscores the profound impact that proteomics is having as our customers continue to advance life science research and precision medicine,” Thermo Fisher CEO Marc Casper said in a statement.
Olink’s technology has seen strong adoption, leading to over 1,400 scientific publications, the companies said. It has operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
“TMO, we believe, can scale OLK's business up significantly and drive penetration into new markets, while strengthening its proteomics franchise of an already strong lineup of Orbitrap mass specs,” Leerink Partners analyst Puneet Souda said in a note to clients after the deal was announced.
Olink is on track to deliver more than $200 million in revenue in 2024 and is expected to grow in the mid-teens organically as part of Thermo Fisher, the companies said.
The purchase of Olink is expected to be dilutive to Thermo Fisher’s adjusted earnings by 17 cents per share in the first full year of ownership. Excluding deal-related costs, the transaction is expected to be accretive by 10 cents per share in that period.
Thermo Fisher expects to realize about $125 million of adjusted operating income from revenue and cost synergies five years after the deal closes.
Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher plans to acquire Olink for $26 per share. That represents a 74% premium to the Monday closing price of the company’s shares on Nasdaq. The transaction value includes net cash of about $143 million.
Thermo Fisher expects to fund the deal with cash on hand and debt financing. Upon completion, Olink will become part of Thermo Fisher’s Life Sciences Solutions segment. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2024.
