Bio-Rad Labs and Qiagen in Combination Talks – WSJ

By Sam Boughedda

Shares of diagnostics firm Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (NYSE:) spiked higher before falling on Monday after a report from The Wall Street Journal said the company is in talks with competitor Qiagen (NYSE:) to combine.

The report, citing people familiar with the matter, states the deal would be worth more than $10 billion. However, while the talks have been taking place for a while, an agreement isn’t likely for at least another few weeks. In addition, there is no guarantee of a deal.

Qiagen had a market value of nearly $10 billion as of Friday’s close, while Bio-Rad’s was nearly $13 billion.

Bio-Rad shares are down 7.95% at the time of writing on Monday. Meanwhile, Qiagen is up 2.59%.

Bio-Rad is based in Hercules, California. The company makes life-science research and clinical diagnostics products. Qiagen is based in Germany, providing sample and assay technologies for molecular diagnostics, academic, applied testing and pharmaceutical research.

The potential deal follows recent reports that another pharmaceutical stock, Cano Health Inc (NYSE:), is attracting interest from companies such as CVS Health (NYSE:) and Humana Inc (NYSE:).

If a deal between Bio-Rad and Qiagen went through, it would be one of the most significant deals in recent months.

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