Danaher claims victory for Summit’s Integrated DNA in $2 bln deal

Danaher Corp on March 9 surfaced as the winning bidder for the highly sought after Integrated DNA Technologies.

Terms weren’t disclosed, but the deal was valued at about $2 billion, Buyouts has learned.

Danaher’s agreement for Integrated DNA, a  genomics-focused life-sciences company backed by Boston’s Summit Partners, follows a January Buyouts report revealing the company had engaged Perella Weinberg Partners to advise on a sales process.

Integrated DNA, which in recent years has maintained a double-digit growth rate in sales and profitability, is projecting almost $100 million of 2018 Ebitda on north of $300 million of revenue, one source previously said.

The strategic-focused auction likely included other life-sciences companies the likes of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Illumina and Qiagen Life Sciences, sources had speculated.

Jefferies advised Danaher on the transaction.

For Washington-based Danaher, the pending transaction is the conglomerate’s biggest life-sciences bet since its $13.8 billion deal for Pall Corp in 2015. Danaher in 2016 bought diagnostics firm Cepheid in a $4 billion deal.

Summit’s investment in Integrated DNA dates to March 2014. The growth-equity investor injected a minority investment into the company, leaving Founder and CEO Joseph Walder with a majority stake. Perella Weinberg advised on the deal.

Craig Frances of Summit joined Integrated DNA’s board in connection with the investment.

Integrated DNA was born out of Coralville, an Iowa City, Iowa, suburb, as a spinout of the University of Iowa. Walder, a physician and former biochemistry professor at the university’s College of Medicine, formed the company in partnership with Baxter Healthcare in 1987.

The company describes itself as the world’s largest maker of custom nucleic acid, or DNA, products. Integrated DNA supports academic and commercial research, agriculture, medical diagnostics and pharmaceutical development, with customers ranging from individual researchers to small university labs to global pharmaceutical companies.

Integrated DNA’s proprietary genomics-based technologies are used in diagnostic tests for cancer, as well as genetic and infectious diseases.

Though its manufacturing headquarters remain rooted in Coralville, additional facilities are situated in California, Belgium and Singapore. The corporate headquarters are in Skokie, Illinois. The company employs more than 1,200 and serves more than 100,000 customers.

Integrated DNA is the second Iowa-based life sciences company to find itself a strategic buyer recently. Agilent Technologies on March 7 announced an agreement to buy privately held Advanced Analytical Technologies, of Ankeny, Iowa, for $250 million in cash. Jefferies offered sell-side advice on the deal.

Advanced Analytical makes and sells electrophoresis tools and software for nucleic acid analysis.

It was also a busy week for Summit Partners. Healthcare technology company Ability Network, which Summit backed in 2014, finally got acquired months after its JPMorgan-run sales process busted.

Ability scored the more than $1 billion valuation it had been hoping for through a sale to Inovalon, which has agreed to pay $1.2 billion in cash and stock for the SaaS company. At least one offer south of $1 billion was turned down last year, Buyouts previously reported.

Representatives of Danaher and Summit didn’t return requests for comment, while those with Integrated DNA declined to comment.

Action Item: Check out the rest of Summit’s healthcare portfolio here: www.summitpartners.com/companies/sector/healthcare-life-sciences

Photo courtesy of alexeynovikov/iStock/GettyImages

Update: This story has been updated to include additional adviser roles.