UPDATE: FTC Clears Danaher Buy Of MDS Unit, With Conditions

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday cleared Danaher Corp.'s (DHR) acquisition of MDS Analytical Technologies but required the companies to divest assets in certain laser microdissection devices as a condition of government approval.

The FTC said the devices are a key tool for scientific research and said the divestiture was needed to preserve competition in that market.

Under the companies' settlement with the FTC, they will sell MDS's Arcturus brand of laser microdissection devices to Life Technologies Corp (LIFE).

Danaher had originally proposed combining the Arcturus brand with its Leica brand of the devices. The FTC said that combination would have been anticompetitive because there are only four North American suppliers of the devices, which are used to separate small groups of cells from larger tissue samples for specialized testing.

MDS Analytical Technologies is a subsidiary of MDS Inc (MDZ, MDS.T). The parent company agreed in September to sell the unit to Danaher for $650 million.

Danaher shares recently were down about 1% at $73.36, while MDS stock was up 0.8% to $8.31. Life Technologies was up 0.6% at $48.79.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com

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