Danaher Will Acquire Filtration Expert

Danaher has agreed to buy filtration and separation media expert Pall Corp. for $13.8 billion. At the same time, Danaher plans to separate itself into two publicly traded firms. Pall has annual sales of $2.8 billion, $1.5 billion from a life sciences segment and the remainder from an industrial segment. The Pall acquisition is Danaher’s largest since it bought diagnostics and lab equipment maker Beckman Coulter for $6.8 billion in 2011. Danaher CEO Thomas P. Joyce Jr. says Pall “strengthens our life sciences position in the strategically attractive, high-growth biopharmaceutical market.” According to industry reports, Danaher outbid Thermo Fisher Scientific for Pall. The separation will create a $16.5 billion-per-year science and technology company that will retain the Danaher name and include Pall as well as Danaher’s life sciences, diagnostics, and dental segments. A to-be-named firm with $6.0 billion in sales will contain Danaher’s remaining industrial assets.