ANN ARBOR – New Jersey medical devices maker Becton, Dickinson and Co. revealed Wednesday during an investor’s call that it paid $205 million for Ann Arbor-area based Accuri Cytometers, making it one of the largest exits in Michigan history.
It’s the first time BD has publicly discussed the deal’s price, which makes Accuri’s acquisition one of the largest deals for an Ann Arbor area startup over the last decade. The information came in a story from Ann Arbor.Com.
The largest deal for a local tech company over the last 10 years was Pfizer Inc’s $1.3 billion acquisition of drug development firm Esperion Therapeutics in 2004. Pfizer in 2007 closed its Esperion division, but the startup’s founder, Lipitor co-discoverer Roger Newton, licensed intellectual property from Pfizer and restarted Esperion in 2008.
The second largest deal in recent years was BD’s $275 million acquisition of Pittsfield Township-based HandyLab in 2009. But BD turned around and announced in October 2010 that it would close HandyLab’s local operation and shift manufacturing of its rapid infection-detection device to the East Coast.
Other major deals for local companies in recent years include Johnson & Johnson’s 2008 acquisition of software firm HealthMedia and Tektronix Communication’s 2010 acquisition of Arbor Networks. The dollar amounts of those deals were never revealed, but Johnson & Johnson is believed to have paid more than $200 million for HealthMedia.
Accuri, which has about 85 workers at its manufacturing and engineering complex, is still operating its Scio Township headquarters for now. Since BD closed HandyLab’s local office, there has been concern that the company will do the same thing with Accuri.
But several sources have said they believe BD may take a different approach with Accuri, in part because the company has a more significant manufacturing presence in Scio Township than HandyLab had in Pittsfield.
a>>
