(Bloomberg) — US medical device makers Agilent Technologies Inc. and Danaher Corp. are among parties considering offers for British life sciences firm SPT Labtech, people familiar with the matter said.
Investment firms Novo Holdings A/S and EQT AB have also been studying the business, which is being sold by Battery Ventures, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Initial offers are due in the coming days for SPT, which could be valued at about £600 million ($749 million), according to the people.
There’s no certainty the suitors will proceed with offers, and other bidders could emerge, they said. Spokespeople for Agilent, Battery Ventures, EQT and Novo declined to comment. Danaher didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tech-focused Battery Ventures has been working with an adviser to explore a sale of SPT, which makes tools for liquid handling and sample preparation and management for scientists, Bloomberg News reported in February.
SPT has been expanding through acquisitions, buying Apricot Designs and BioMicroLab last year to boost its laboratory automation offerings. It’s also formed a partnership with US health-care giant Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. to co-market solutions for variant detection at lower costs.
Any deal would add to roughly $90 billion of takeovers of European health-care companies over the last 12 months, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s private equity arm agreed to buy a controlling stake in specialty pharmaceutical firm Norgine BV last month in a deal valuing the business at about $2 billion.
Elsewhere, Blackstone Inc. is nearing an agreement to buy Advarra Inc. in a deal that would value the drug-research services company at about $5 billion, Bloomberg News reported previously.
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