Affymetrix Rejects a Rival Bid to Thermo Fisher's Merger Plan -- 2nd Update

   By Ezequiel Minaya 
 

Affymetrix Inc. said Monday that it rejected an unsolicited buyout bid submitted by a group of the company's former executives and would continue to back a proposed acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

In response, Origin Technologies Corp., a newly formed entity owned by the former Affymetrix executives, said it is dropping its acquisition bid but disagrees with Affymetrix over the latter's assessment of the risk attached to the Origin proposal.

Affymetrix's board said it determined that the buyout bid by Origin Technologies wasn't a superior proposal as "defined in Affymetrix's merger agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc."

Shareholders of Affymetrix are expected to vote on the Thermo Fisher offer on Thursday.

Origin last week 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 said Monday that though Origin had a higher offer, "the board found the risks to initiating and consummating a potential transaction with Origin outweighed the potential benefit," according to the news release announcing Affymetrix's decision.

Among the perceived risks were the ability to secure third-party financing as well as obtain the needed approvals by regulators in China and the U.S.

In addition to disagreement with Affymetrix's assessment of perceived risk, Origin also said that Affymetrix made an unreasonable demand during negotiations, asking that Origin "place hundreds of millions of dollars in a U.S. escrow account" by Monday.

Thermo Fisher, in a separate statement, said it was pleased with the decision by the Affymetrix board and that it was confident Affymetrix stockholders would vote in favor of the deal.

Shares of Affymetrix fell 5.6% to $14.10 on Thursday, while Thermo Fisher dropped 49 cents to $138.53.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2016 18:55 ET (22:55 GMT)

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