WIKIMEDIA, BORA GURELFormer employees of Affymetrix tried to scuttle a pending acquisition by life-science technology firm Thermo Fisher Scientific. Ex-Affymetrix staff members had set up a shell company called Origin Technologies, secured backing from a Chinese private equity firm, and last week (March 18)—just as the $1.3 billion deal with Thermo Fisher was about to go through—bid a whopping $1.5 billion in cash for their former employer. But Affymetrix, which makes genetic analysis tools, rejected the new offer this week (March 20), saying it “falls materially short of the funds that would be required to complete the transaction,” which would include a termination fee payable to Thermo Fisher, according to a statement from the company.
Affymetrix shareholders are set to vote on the Thermo Fisher acquisition this week, according to The New York Times. “The board of directors of Affymetrix is firmly committed to carrying out its fiduciary duties and maximizing value for our stockholders, while at the same time complying with the customary provisions of our merger agreement with Thermo Fisher,” Frank Whitney, Affymetrix CEO, said in the statement.
Thermo Fisher also responded to the 11th-hour bid from Origin. “The proposal put forth to Affymetrix by Origin Technologies, a newly created shell entity relying on a vague and insufficient financing package from a Chinese firm, is highly uncertain and speculative and does not constitute, and could not reasonably be expected to lead to, a superior proposal under the merger ...
