Quidel to Buy Ortho Clinical in Deal Valued at $6 Billion

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Healthcare diagnostics manufacturer 

Quidel

reached an agreement to acquire

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings

for $24.68 a share of common stock in cash and newly issued shares in the combined company.  

The deal price, Quidel said in a press release, represents a 25% premium over Ortho Clinical’s closing price on Wednesday of $19.79. The deal has an equity value of about $6 billion, Quidel said. 

The acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

Shares of Quidel declined 14% to $143 in premarket trading Thursday, while Ortho Clinical jumped 8.6% to $21.50. Quidel has fallen about 7% in 2021, while Ortho Clinical has risen more than 6% over the past three months.

Quidel is a maker of at-home Covid tests. The company told Barron’s this week that it was working toward manufacturing 70 million tests per month by the end of the year, a number that includes both its at-home rapid test and other tests it manufactures.

“We are anticipating continued strong demand approaching the holidays based on the recent rise in infection rates and our discussions with employers, institutions and the federal government,” said Quidel ‘s president and CEO, Douglas Bryant, in a statement to Barron’s. “Our people are working tirelessly to increase our manufacturing capacity to a run-rate of 70 million tests per month by the end of the year to provide our communities with access to affordable COVID-19 testing.”

Ortho Clinical, the in vitro diagnostics company, went public in January 2021.

Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com