GE Healthcare to acquire Whatman

Chalfont St Giles, UK and Maidstone, UK – Life sciences company GE Healthcare and filtration supplier Whatman say they have agreed on terms for the former to acquire the latter.

The two say a strong strategic fit between the two businesses will offer customer benefits and create synergies through complementary product and service offerings.

“Whatman’s product opportunities within the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and forensics markets will have a greater chance of success within the larger GE Healthcare group,” says Kieran Murphy, Whatman’s CEO.

“Whatman’s expertise and reputation in filtration technologies and sample preparation is a great fit for our life sciences business because it brings new technologies that are fundamental to helping researchers increase their understanding of the role of genes and proteins in disease,” says Peter Ehrenheim, president and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Life Sciences business. “We believe that combining the skills of the two companies will enable GE Healthcare to create strong added value for customers in biomedical and drug discovery research.”

The companies say they expect the transaction to be completed in the second quarter of this year.