Affymetrix Delays Thermo Fisher Merger Vote After Higher Origin Bid

By Anne Steele 

Affymetrix Inc. on Wednesday postponed a vote on its proposed tie-up with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., saying a new unsolicited bid from Origin Technologies Corp. could reasonably lead to a superior proposal.

The company said that its board continues to recommend its stockholders vote in favor of the merger agreement with Thermo Fisher, and said it hasn't determined that the Origin proposal is in fact a superior proposal. Affymetrix said the board recommends against the Origin proposal.

The stockholder meeting scheduled for Thursday is now pushed back a week to March 31.

On Tuesday, Origin--a newly formed entity owned by former Affymetrix executives--raised its unsolicited offer for the genetic-analysis company by 5.6% in another attempt to disrupt the planned merger with Thermo Fisher.

Origin increased its all-cash offer to $17 a share, valuing Affymetrix at about $1.58 billion and trumping its previous offer of $16.10 a share. In January, Thermo Fisher agreed to buy Affymetrix for about $14 a share, or roughly $1.3 billion, in a bid to boost its biogenetic-analysis portfolio. The Thermo deal offered a 52% premium to Affymetrix's stock price before the announcement.

Affymetrix shares added 4.5% to $15.01 midday, suggesting some shareholders are expecting any deal for Affymetrix will be higher than Thermo's bid of $14.

On Wednesday, Thermo Fisher fired back at Origin, calling its own proposal the only "bona fide" bid for Affymetrix shareholders.

Thermo Fisher Chief Executive Marc Casper said their transaction, which has been unanimously approved by both boards, provides Affymetrix shareholders with a "significant premium, is fully-financed and received all required regulatory approvals."

Evercore analyst Ross Muken said Origin's new bid complicates matters, and Affymetrix's board is likely required to take it seriously to comply with their fiduciary duty.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 23, 2016 12:44 ET (16:44 GMT)

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