Thermo Fisher to Buy Dionex for $2.1 Billion

In a move that will compliment its operations in China and expand its leadership in the environmental instrument business, Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) said Monday it will pay $2.1 billion to buy laboratory device maker Dionex (NASDAQ:DNEX) in a deal expected to close in the first-quarter of next year.

The announcement lifted Sunnyvale, Calif-based Dionex’s shares to an all-time high Monday morning.

Waltham, Mass-based Thermo will acquire all of Dionex’s outstanding shares in a tender offer valued at $118.50 a share, a 21% premium to Dionex’s closing price on Friday. Both companies’ boards of directors have unanimously approved the transaction.

Thermo CEO Marc N. Casper said Dionex’s strength in chromatography instruments, software and consumables compliments its business in mass spectrometry and laboratory information management systems.

“The transaction, which we expect to be immediately accretive, is consistent with our strategy of accelerating growth by increasing our depth of capabilities to serve attractive end markets,” he said.

The deal also compliments its business in China, where it has established the global headquarters of its environmental instruments business, and where it continues to build its commercial infrastructure.