Danaher Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire Leica Microsystems

05-Jul-2005

Danaher Corporation announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase German-based Leica Microsystems AG from LM Investments S.à r.l. The purchase price amounts to an enterprise value of approximately EUR450 million, including assumed debt, pension liabilities, transaction costs and net of cash acquired.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter. Danaher expects minimal earnings per share accretion in 2005. Earnings per share accretion in 2006 is expected to be approximately EUR0.025.

H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., Danaher's President and Chief Executive Officer, said: "This transaction makes strong strategic and financial sense for both companies. Leica Microsystems' technology in high precision optical instrumentation and its well-known brand will extend Danaher's Professional Instrumentation segment into life sciences while complementing our existing critical care diagnostics and dental businesses. Leica Microsystems has an excellent management team, and working together we can improve the company's long-term performance and augment its growth on a global scale - both organically and through add-on acquisitions. We are pleased to have such a well-respected company become part of Danaher."

Dr. Wolf-Otto Reuter, Chief Executive Officer of Leica Microsystems, said: "We are very pleased to be announcing this partnership with Danaher. They are a long-term strategic investor with global resources that truly understands our engineering heritage and are committed to our future growth. As part of Danaher, we expect to be able to extend Leica Microsystems' leadership in its fields of operation, particularly in medicine and biotechnology."

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