LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - General Electric has agreed to sell its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher for $21.4bn.
The deal, which will see Danaher pay $21bn in cash and assume certain pension liabilities, is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

GE said on Monday that it will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce leverage and strengthen its balance sheet.

GE Chairman and chief executive officer H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., said: "Today's transaction is a pivotal milestone. It demonstrates that we are executing on our strategy by taking thoughtful and deliberate action to reduce leverage and strengthen our balance sheet.

"We are retaining full flexibility for growth and strategic optionality with one of the world's leading healthcare companies, and we are pleased that our BioPharma colleagues will join a strong, established team at Danaher. A more focused portfolio is the right structure for GE, and we have many options for maximizing shareholder value along the way."

The biopharma business being divested is part of GE Life Sciences. In 2018, it generated revenue of around $3bn. It provides instruments, consumables and software that support the research, discovery, process development and manufacturing workflows of biopharmaceutical drugs.

The business comprises process chromatography hardware and consumables, cell culture media, single use technologies, development instrumentation and consumables, and service.

GE Healthcare president and CEO Kieran Murphy said: "The BioPharma business has been a strong contributor to our success, and I am confident this agreement represents a great opportunity for our valued colleagues to flourish under the ownership of Danaher.

"GE Healthcare has unsurpassed scale and scope and we will continue to focus on our investments so that we deliver better outcomes and more capacity to a world striving for Precision Health."

At 1435 GMT, the shares were up 13% in pre-market trade at $11.52.

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