Applera has started its $1.2bn (€0.9bn) share repurchase of Applied Biosystems (ABI) common stock. Applera will pay Morgan Stanley $600m in exchange for a variable number of shares based on a weighted average daily price of ABI stock over the next six months.
The company expects the repurchase to be dilutive to ABI earnings per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 by approximately $0.01.
Biosite cut 107 staff last week as part of restructuring plans following its $1.7bn (€1.25bn) acquisition by Inverness Medical Innovations. Nine top executives left the company after the takeover that had 900 employees before the cuts.
Of the jobs lost 100 were at the company's base in San Diego, California US, with cuts affecting all departments in the company.
The £5m (€7.4m) Electronics Design Centre for Heterogeneous Systems at the University of Glasgow has opened today hoping to be at the forefront of developing new methods and technologies for applications in medicine, healthcare provision, networks for communications and sensor applications.
The centre has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Scottish Funding Council. Agilent Technologies has provided test and measurement technology for the facility and will fund some research.
Farfield Scientific has expanded its international patent portfolio with five new patents related to its proprietary dual polarisation interferometry (DPI) technology. These patents are the most recent to be granted from the company's pipeline of over 50 pending applications.
"Farfield has pioneered the physical characterisation of bio-molecules, one of the most demanding measurement issues in biophysics. These recently-awarded patents, and our vast portfolio of applications pending, underpin our investment in what is a new field of scientific endeavour and confirm our undisputed market lead worldwide," said Gerry Ronan, CEO of Farfield.
Oxford Instruments (OI) has acquired the German cryogen-free equipment manufacturer VeriCold Technologies GmbH. The acquisition of the world leading pulse tube refrigerator manufacturer and will broaden OI's range of low temperature and high magnetic field instruments.
The acquisition comes less than a month after the company acquired Worldwide Analytical Systems and continues OI's strategy to double the size of the company during the next five years.
"This acquisition is part of our on-going strategy to deliver added value to our customers and to focus on the commercialisation of our science. We are delighted that VeriCold will be joining us, and look forward to working with them to deliver an enhanced service to our customers," said Dr Jim Hutchins, managing director of OI's NanoScience division.
Tescan has appointed ISS Group as exclusive distributors for its SEM (scanning electron microscope) systems in the UK and Ireland.
The company offers two families of microscopes the VEGA series of high-quality, PC-controlled SEMs designed for high vacuum or variable pressure operations and the MIRA family of Schottky Field Emission high performance microscopes.
