Healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories announced via PR Newswire on Monday it has agreed to acquire diagnostic-testing company Alere Inc., for $5.8 billion, in a deal that Abbott expects will make it a leading diagnostics provider of point-of-care testing once it's completed.
Abbott, which had a market value of $3.2 billion as of Friday, said the acquisition of Alere would expand its platforms to include bench-top and rapid strip tests. Such a result would be highly beneficial to medical providers and insurers who have long sought to accelerate the usage of speedy tests to improve the quality of care while reducing costs.
On the other hand, some analysts feared the acquisition of Alere could impact Abbott's growth. In the 12 months through December, Alere's revenue declined an estimated 3.6 percent, and the company announced last month that predicted fourth-quarter revenue would fall short of expectations as it faces a quiet North American flu season. Within that same period, Abbott's has been on the rise, reporting sales of $20.4 billion - up from 0.8 percent from last year, according to the New York Times.
Under the deal, Abbott will pay $56 per common share of Alere, while assuming or refinancing $2.6 billion of its debt. Alere will become a subsidiary of Abbott upon the deal's completion,
Abbott said it expects annual pre-tax synergies, through a combination of cost cuts and new revenue, to approach $500 million by 2019, reported USA Today. In addition, the transaction is expected to add to earnings on an adjusted basis in 2017 and 2018.
Abbott made $4.6 billion in diagnostics sales in 2015, about 10 percent of which came from point-of-care test revenue. With Alere in tow, Abbott said total diagnostics sales would exceed $7 billion.
