IVD are tests on samples of blood or tissue from the human body. VIVO is a life science company operating in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) market. Yahoo Finance Business & Strategic Rationale In August 2021, VIVO was issued a close-out letter from the agency, meaning that the company has addressed issues identified in the initial warning letter sent by the FDA in 2017. A positive is that VIVO has complied with all of FDA's requests and inspections on its blood lead test products so far.

The DOJ has issued several subpoenas to the company and currently the investigation is ongoing.

The merger announcement explicitly mentions 'the absence of specified materially adverse outcomes' in the investigation as one of the closing conditions. The main risk here is the DOJ's ongoing investigation into the company's blood lead test products since 2018 due to their allegedly misleading test results. Meanwhile, CFIUS approval seems like a formality. Moreover, the transaction values VIVO at ~18x EV/TTM EBIT - close to its significantly larger peers, such as Qiagen (~19x), PerkinElmer (~20x) and Abbott Laboratories (~22x).Īntitrust approvals are unlikely to be an issue - the companies have small market shares in all geographies. VIVO's institutional shareholders (>50% stake) have a low cost-basis. VIVO shareholder and regulatory approvals will be needed, however these should not be a hurdle: The announcement comes after a strategic review. Overall, the merger makes strategic sense as SDB operates in the same industry and will be able to expand its broad product portfolio to the US. After the acquisition, two buyers - South Korean peer SD Biosensor (SDB) and a PE firm SJL Partners - will own 60% and 40% of the company. The offer is $34 per share in cash or a total of ~$1.53bn. The merger is expected to close in Q4'22 which would imply a ~9% annualized return.Ī South Korean buyer consortium is acquiring US diagnostic test kit maker Meridian Bioscience ( NASDAQ: VIVO). The spread of 1% seemed to reflect this upon the announcement but has since widened despite no transaction-related news and now stands at 4%. This is a recently announced going private transaction which seems highly likely to close.

Meridian bioscience