SAN DIEGO, Jul 09, 2000 (AP Online via COMTEX) --  Invitrogen Corp., a maker of
tools used in gene cloning and research, is merging with two other firms that
supply the biotech industry to take advantage of a market expected to surge as a
result of the successful mapping of the human genetic code.
 
Invitrogen will pay $1.9 billion in cash and stock to acquire all outstanding
shares of Life Technologies Inc. and Dexter Corp., the three companies announced
in a joint statement Sunday.
 
Terms of the agreement call for Invitrogen, based in San Diego, to buy the
outstanding common stock of Dexter for $62.50 per share in cash and stock or
approximately $1.5 billion.
 
Dexter, which manufactures specialty materials used by the biotech industry,
already owns 75 percent of the outstanding shares of Life Technologies, a
Rockville, Md., firm that licenses research technology.
 
Dexter is based in Windsor Locks, Conn.
 
In addition, Invitrogen plans to acquire the remaining outstanding stock of Life
Technologies for $60 per share in cash and stock, or $400 million.
 
Lyle C. Turner, Invitrogen's chairman and chief executive officer, will maintain
that position and the firm will keep its name and maintain its headquarters in
San Diego.
 
"This combination creates a new global leader in molecular biology research and
services," Turner said in a statement.
 
Combined, the three companies will have annual sales of $500 million and will
have increased leverage in the biotech industry supply market.
 
That market is expected to grow as new technologies emerge from the completion
last month of a map of the human genetic code, or genome, and researchers gain
new insight into the biological roots of disease.
 
The deal is expected to close in the fall. The board of directors of all three
companies have already unanimously approved the deal, the companies said.
 
 
 
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