The divestment of a massive healthcare asset by General Electric's (GE +0.16%) life sciences division has been completed. The sale of the biopharma unit of that division to conglomerate Danaher (DHR +0.27%), both companies announced on Tuesday. Furthermore, Danaher wrote in its press release that it will rename the business Cytiva.
The deal between the two companies took quite some time to complete. It was originally announced in February 2019, with Danaher agreeing to pay roughly $21.4 billion in cash for the biopharma unit, around 17 times the anticipated 2019 EBITDA of the unit. Its annual revenue was estimated at $3.2 billion at the time.
Image source: General Electric
Cytiva will be folded into healthcare-focused Danaher's existing life sciences division, one of its three business segments. When the deal was originally announced, Danaher said of the unit that it "is renowned for providing best-in-class bioprocessing technologies and solutions."
"This acquisition will bring a talented and passionate team as well as a highly innovative, industry-leading product suite to our Life Sciences portfolio, providing an excellent complement to our current biologics workflow solutions," the buyer added.
The deal can be considered to be a win for both parties. Danaher is an acquisitive company that likes to compliment its existing assets. Meanwhile, General Electric has struggled in the recent past and remains eager to sell valuable properties to shore up its finances.
Perhaps because of this, on Tuesday the performances of both companies' shares bettered that of the major stock market indexes. Danaher's fell, but only by 1.7% on the day, while General Electric stock inched up by 0.6%.
