Friday, January 18, 2013

Life Technologies Hires Investment Bankers, Looks For Buyer

Carlsbad-based Life Technologies said this morning that it has hired two investment banking firms, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Moelis & Company LLC, to assist it in what it called an "annual strategic review". However, according to a Canadian newspaper, the investment bankers are actually looking to help drum up interest in buyers for the company. The Financial Post reports that Life Technologies is seeking a private equity buyer or other acquirer for the company, and has talked with Blackstone, KKR, TPG Global and Carlyle Investment Management on the private equity side, and potential strategic acquirers such as GE, Roche, Novartis , Honeywell, Danaher and ThermoFisher Scientific on the other side. Life Technologies is a developer of scientific instruments, including gene sequencing and DNA analysis instrumentation.