Business News - Danaher Corporation, Corning Incorporated, SP Scientific, IDBS

Danaher Corporation and Keithley Instruments, Inc, have entered into a definitive merger (Sept) pursuant to which Danaher will acquire all of the outstanding Common Shares and Class B Common Shares of Keithley at a purchase price of $21.60 per share in cash for an enterprise value of approximately $300 million
net of cash to be assumed. The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Keithley Board of Directors. Keithley Instruments, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and markets complex electronic instruments and systems; product offerings include integrated systems solutions, along with instruments and data
acquisition modules that can be used as system components or stand-alone solutions. Upon closing Keithley will be part of Danaher’s Tektronix business

Corning Incorporated has completed the acquisition of all outstanding shares of Plaslab SAS from certain investment funds managed by Qualium Investissement and from other shareholders. Plaslab company Plastiques Gosselin, (Borre, France), a leading manufacturer and distributor of consumable labware in Europe, will be integrated into Corning’s Life Sciences segment and Jean Gosselin will remain as President of Plaslab and Plastiques Gosselin. The consumables lines will complement the general labware, cell culture, lab equipment, and HTS/Assay products offered by Corning. The acquisition also furthers Corning’s strategy to
continue to improve balance by strengthening its Life Sciences segment.

SP Scientific has signed a license agreement with Praxair, Inc, to utilise Praxair’s ControLyo nucleation on-demand technology for control over the freeze-drying process for drug developmental efforts.

"With the combined strength of SP Scientific’s leading line of laboratory lyophilisers and Praxair’s ControLyo nucleation on-demand technology, drug manufacturers can consider a variety of formulations during drug and process development. ControLyo technology enables precise control of the lyophilisation process using one of the most advanced and innovative freezedrying tools on the market today," said Rich Jarrett, Director of Business Development for Praxair’s Biopharma business.

According to Bill Downs, SP Scientific’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, "Praxair’s technology fits perfectly with our mission of offering customers the most technically advanced freeze-drying equipment and tools to improve their overall economics and processes. We are very excited about the combination of Praxair’s technology and our advanced lyophilisers and tools used to help customers with their freeze-drying needs."

IDBS, a leading provider of research data management and analytics solutions to R&D organisations, has formed a new global unit dedicated to provision of healthcare and translational medicine-focused solutions.

Neil Kipling, Founder and CEO of IDBS said that the move represented: “a natural evolution of our capabilities and builds on the knowledge and expertise gained from our years of work in research, preclinical and clinical areas with leading commercial, academic and healthcare groups, Our intention with the healthcare unit is twofold: First, we can capitalise on our proven leadership and in-depth knowledge of translational medicine to extend our solution to improve the understanding and use of healthcare data. Second, by creating a separate healthcare unit, we can maintain our fundamental emphasis on the enterprise platforms within pharmaceuticals and R&D organisations that are the foundation of IDBS.”