Thermo Fisher completes $17.4B acquisition of PPD - Drug Discovery and Development

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) announced today that it completed its previously announced $17.4 billion acquisition of PPD.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher announced in April that it would acquire the company that provides clinical research services to the biopharma and biotech industry. PPD ceased trading on the Nasdaq prior to opening today and will become part of Thermo Fisher’s laboratory products and services segment.

The boards of directors for both companies approved the definitive agreement back in April, which confirmed that Thermo Fisher would buy PPD for $47.50 per share, totaling $17.4 billion, plus the assumption of approximately $3.5 billion of net debt, according to a news release. That represents a premium of approximately 24% to the unaffected closing price of PPD’s common stock on Tuesday, April 13, 2021.

Wilmington, N.C.-based PPD offers clinical research and laboratory services to enable customers to accelerate innovation and increase drug development productivity. The company has more than 26,000 colleagues operating across 50 countries and it produced revenue of $4.7 billion in 2020.

Thermo Fisher said in a news release that the transaction is expected to contribute $1.50 to its adjusted earnings per share in 2022, while details of the 2021 impact will be provided during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call in early 2022.

“We are very excited to officially welcome our PPD colleagues to Thermo Fisher Scientific,” Thermo Fisher Chairman, President & CEO Marc N. Casper said in the release. “Expanding our value proposition for our biotech and pharmaceutical customers with the addition of PPD’s leading clinical research services advances our work in bringing life-changing therapies to market, benefitting patients around the world.”