Thermo Fisher buys Qiagen for $11.5 billion
You may not have heard of German genetic testing company Qiagen, but you've probably heard of coronavirus.
Qiagen has developed a rapid testing kit for the disease, which it's shipping to Chinese hospitals.
And Qiagen stock jumped in early trading Tuesday, fueled by a $11.5 billion acquisition bid by Thermo Fischer Scientific.
The Massechussets-based Thermo Fisher supplies instruments, scientific equipment and services to research labs and healthcare companies.
It's paying a hefty 23 percent premium for Qiagen, one of the world's largest suppliers of products to prepare tissue and blood samples for advanced testing. Its genetic tests are used in treatments for cancer, infectious diseases and genetic disorders.
Investors cheered the move, sending stocks of both companies sharply higher.
The companies say the deal will immediately add to earnings when it closes in the first half of 2021.
