The deal was originally announced in January but two weeks ago Affymetrix received a rival offer of $1.5bn from Origin Technologies Corporation.
This was rejected on the grounds that the deal was backed by an insufficient financial package, and yesterday the firms announced the acquisition has now been completed, with Affymetrix becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thermo Fisher.
“This is a great outcome for both companies,” said Thermo Fisher CEO Marc Casper in a statement. “With Affymetrix, we now have an expanded antibody portfolio to strengthen our leadership in biosciences, as well as new genetic analysis capabilities to better serve clinical and applied markets.”
He added the integration of Affymetrix has been ongoing since the deal was announced in January. “[It is] progressing well and we look forward to creating value through the strategic and financial benefits of the transaction.”
Thermo M&A
The acquisition is the latest for Thermo Fisher as it strengthens its bioprocessing and life sciences businesses.
In 2014, the firm bought Life Technologies for $13.6bn, adding sera and media, chromatography instruments and purification consumables to its portfolio, as well as the DNA sequencing Ion Torrent technology platform.
And last year, the firm bolstered its single-use bioprocessing technologies offering through the acquisition of ASI.
Furthermore, the company was rumoured to have made a bid for Pall Corporation, the filtration and separation firm which was snapped up for $14bn in September by Danaher.