Origin withdraws offer to buy Affymetrix

Industry:    2016-03-29

Origin Technologies Corp, owned by Affymetrix Inc’s (AFFX.O) former employees, withdrew its offer to buy the gene-sequencing products maker, hours after Affymetrix said on Monday that Origin’s raised bid was not superior to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc’s (TMO.N) proposal. “We disagree with Affymetrix’ assessment of the perceived risks of our proposal. It is an unfortunate outcome,” said Wei Zhou, president of Origin. Origin had offered a sweetened $17 per share for Affymetrix, topping a $14-per-share bid by Thermo Fisher. But Affymetrix said Origin’s offer did not constitute a superior proposal, saying risks related to obtaining third-party financing and the possibility of lengthy regulatory reviews outweighed the potential benefits. Origin said that Affymetrix had asked it on Friday to place hundreds of millions of dollars in a U.S. escrow account by Monday to secure a deal. Origin characterized Affymetrix’s deadline and demands as “unreasonable”, saying it had only one business day to comply and transfer third-party funds from an international firm to the United States. Origin had said earlier its offer would be financed by SummitView Capital, a Chinese private equity firm. Affymetrix shareholders will vote on the Thermo Fisher deal on Thursday. Up to Friday’s close, Affymetrix’s shares had risen 62 percent since Jan. 8, the last trading day before Thermo Fisher’s offer.

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