Alere Announces Divestiture Of BBI And Acquisition Of US Diagnostics

(RTTNews) - Alere Inc. (ALR) announced two transactions that further strengthen its focus on its core business strategy.

On July 2, 2015, Alere signed an agreement to sell its BBI business to Exponent Private Equity LLP, a UK-based private equity firm, for a total purchase price of approximately $164 million, based on foreign exchange rates on that date, including up to $47 million in contingent consideration. BBI Group provides products and services for the diagnostic, healthcare, research, defense and food industries globally.

The close of the BBI sale is subject to regulatory approvals, including applicable anti-trust authorization, approvals by CFIUS or Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls of the U.S. Department of State.

Alere expects to use the majority of the proceeds from the sale to pay down existing indebtedness.

Alere has acquired substantially all of the assets of US Diagnosticsfor $60 million in cash. US Diagnostics, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is a leading provider of drug testing devices and is currently a distributor of Alere Toxicology products.

"We expect the acquisition of USD to be immediately accretive, deliver strong returns on the capital invested and provide access to an expanded customer base with additional opportunities for selling other Alere Toxicology solutions and other business synergies," said Namal Nawana, Chief Executive Officer and President of Alere.

Alere expects the two transactions combined to be dilutive to earnings per share by approximately $0.00-$0.05 in 2015.

In a separate press release, Alere announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted CLIA waiver for the Alere i Strep A test. The test, which was cleared for marketing by the FDA in April 2015, is the first molecular platform that detects Group A Streptococcus (GAS) bacteria in 8 minutes or less.

With CLIA waiver, the Alere i Strep A test will be available in a broad range of healthcare settings, including physician offices, hospital emergency rooms, and retail and walk-in clinics in the United States.

The Strep A test is the second assay on the Alere i molecular platform, which initially received 510(k) clearance for the detection and differentiation of influenza A and B virus in 2014. In January 2015, Alere i Influenza A & B became the first-ever molecular test to receive CLIA waiver.