Bruker Announces Agreement to Acquire Majority in Infectious Disease-focused Molecular Diagnostics (MDx) Company Hain Lifescience GmbH

Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ : BRKR ) today announced that is has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Hain Lifescience GmbH, which is headquartered in Nehren, Germany. Hain is an infectious disease molecular diagnostics (MDx) specialist with a broad range of MDx solutions for the detection of microbial and viral pathogens, for antibiotic resistance testing, as well as for human genetic diseases.  

Hain is already a profitable company, and in 2018 Hain expects to generate revenues of about $38 million.  Bruker expects to acquire an 80% majority interest in Hain, with options for the remaining 20% that can be exercised after 2021.  The majority acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.  Financial details were not disclosed.

Hain Lifescience's offerings include consumables and instruments for DNA sample preparation, the GenoType™ assay portfolio for tuberculosis detection, for sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing, and for HIV viral load testing, as well as for other infectious disease and human genetic disease MDx tests.  Hain is particularly well-known in the field of MDx testing of tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections.  The availability of Hain kits is subject to country-specific diagnostics regulations, and most Hain MDx assays are CE-IVD marked.  The planned acquisition of Hain will broaden Bruker's presence in the infectious disease and molecular diagnostics markets, in line with the microbiology and diagnostics initiative within Bruker's Project Accelerate portfolio transformation.

In additional, Hain has developed the new Fluorocycler™ XT, an innovative real-time PCR system with a proprietary, novel assay format for Liquid Array™ syndromic panels.  The Liquid Array assays are expected to enable cost-effective syndromic panel analysis in central laboratories.  The first Liquid Array assay will be the FluoroType MTBDR 2.0 for detecting the M. tuberculosis complex, including its drug resistances against rifampicin and isoniazid, with CE-IVD labeling expected before the end of 2018.

Frank Laukien, the president and CEO of Bruker Corporation, commented: "We are excited to have concluded an agreement for the acquisition of Hain Lifescience, an innovative, fast-growing and high-quality company in the infectious disease molecular diagnostics markets.  Hain is a great fit for Bruker's Microbiology & Diagnostics business, which is one of the key drivers for our Project Accelerate.  With this planned acquisition, we expect to broaden our footprint in molecular diagnostics, particularly in microbiology and virology testing solutions." 

Dr. Laukien continued: "We anticipate that together with Hain we can bring significant innovation to real-time PCR instruments