BD, which operates Clontech as part of its BD Biosciences division, said it would take a $125 million (€102m) charge relating to the disposal in the fourth quarter. Clontech would bring in around $60 million a year in revenues in fiscal 2004, adding one cent to BD's earnings per share.
"The plan to sell Clontech is a result of BD Biosciences' decision to focus its strategy on cell analysis, discovery labware and its new platforms of imaging and in vitro drug metabolism/toxicity testing," said Edward Ludwig, BD's chairman, president and CEO.
"This also allows us to direct our resources toward higher-growth opportunities in the pharmaceutical drug discovery arena." Many of BD's activities in drug discovery centre on more downstream elements such as high-throughput screening.
Indeed, Clontech represented only a tiny part of BD's annual sales of $4.5 billion, accounted for by medical devices (especially syringes), diagnostics and a broad range of laboratory products.
BD Biosciences itself accounts for around 15 per cent of the group's total revenues, with Clontech estimated to account for a little less than 10 per cent of the division's sales.
Clontech focuses on tools for gene identification, gene expression analysis, functional analysis and target validation for drug discovery.
Its product range that includes kits and reagents used in genomics, proteomics and drug discovery. The company's key brands include Atlas kits for fluorescent labelling, Living Colors (fluorescent proteins), the TALON range of protein purification systems and antibody arrays.