Instrument Makers Consolidate

Instrument makers continued to consolidate. Even as executives bemoaned government spending restraints in the U.S. and Europe, they eyed opportunities for future growth.

Capping weeks of rumors, Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in April that it would buy life sciences industry supplier Life Technologies for $13.6 billion, cementing Thermo Fisher’s role as one of the largest suppliers of scientific instruments and consumables. Life Technologies also brings a next-generation gene-sequencing business that could enlarge Thermo Fisher’s role in the growing disease diagnostics market.

In another consolidation move, Malvern Instruments acquired nanoparticle-tracking instrument maker NanoSight for $24 million. NanoSight CEO Jeremy Warren said Malvern “can provide us with more robust development capabilities” than his small firm would have on its own.

Agilent Technologies decided to split into two publicly traded companies by the end of 2014 to allow management to realize each new business’s full potential. The high-growth life sciences and applied businesses will keep the Agilent name. The more cyclical electronic measurement businesses have yet to be named.