Merger mania continues: Danaher
The deal follows a rash of crosswise buyouts in the measurement tools industry. Agilent Technologies
In fact, the number of standalone competitors in this field is dwindling fast. There's Danaher, there's Agilent, and then you have a handful of much smaller providers such as Zygo
Over the past 12 months, Keithley produced $11.4 million of net income and $7.5 million of free cash flow on $113 million in revenue. This deal will hardly make a difference to Danaher's $12.3 billion of trailing sales, but Keithley does come with stronger operating margins than Danaher's. It's more of a directional deal than a transformative one, unless of course you own shares of Keithley Systems already. Enjoy the payday in that case. There won't be a bidding war, I'm afraid, so you should cash in your shares at your earliest convenience.
Would Danaher get away with buying Agilent, too, thereby consolidating an entire industry under one corporate umbrella? Dream on in the comments below.