Former Affymetrix executives make a bid to buy biotech firm

Origin Technologies Corp. has offered about $ 1.5 billion to buy medical technology company Affymetrix Inc., topping a bid from Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Origin Technologies said it would pay $ 16.10 per share in cash, 15 percent more than the $ 1.3 billion Thermo Fisher proposed in January. The company expects to complete the transaction by the end of June, it said Friday.

Thermo Fisher had agreed to buy Affymetrix for $ 14 per share in cash, more than 50 percent above its closing price before the offer was made public. A month later, Affymetrix said a competing suitor had raised its bid for the company twice, sending shares above the bid price. The stock closed at $ 14.02 on Thursday.

Origin Technologies is owned by a group of former Affymetrix executives, including Wei Zhou, who had been the vice president of intellectual property and advanced technology. It was formed specifically to acquire the Santa Clara company, which produces technology used by scientists and biologists to analyze specimens at the cellular and genetic level. Affymetrix customers include drugmakers, consumerproduct companies and government researchers.

The appetite for such technology is growing, as advances make gene sequencing more affordable for everything from cancer analysis to evolutionary genetics, Origin said, citing a global market opportunity of about $ 46 billion.

The offer includes covering the $ 55 million termination fee due to Thermo Fisher as well as a $ 75 million reverse termination fee. SummitView Capital will finance the deal. After completion, Origin Technologies would have the option of combining Affymetrix with Centrillion Technologies, another company started by the former executives.