Millipore Shares Soar on Rumors of a $6B Buyout Bid from Thermo

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Shares of Millipore climbed as high as $102.91 — a 44 percent rise from its Friday closing price of $71.34 — after a report from Bloomberg claimed that Thermo Fisher Scientific has made an unsolicited $6 billion bid to acquire the firm.

A Thermo Fisher spokesperson said the firm would not comment on the "rumor," and Millipore did not respond to a request for comment.

However, Reuters reported later in the day that a source had confirmed for them that Thermo Fisher had made the offer. Both news agencies said that Millipore has hired Goldman Sachs as a financial advisor in response to the bid.

In Monday afternoon trade, shares of Millipore pulled back some but were still up 21 percent at $86.17 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Millipore has a market cap of around $4.9 billion and recently reported full-year 2009 revenues of $1.65 billion.

Thermo Fisher earlier this month reported 2009 revenues of $10.11 billion, and it currently has a market cap of around $19.5 billion.