PITTSBURGH, Dec. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer Corporation today announced it
has reached an agreement to sell its Kankakee, Ill., based Pentex blood
proteins business to Serologicals Corporation, Atlanta, Ga., pending review by
relevant authorities. The Pentex business, part of the company's Diagnostics
Business Group, manufactures blood products used by the diagnostics,
biotechnology and research industries. The transaction, valued at
$29 million, is expected to close on or before December 31, 1998.
"The Pentex business has a bright future ahead in a growth industry, but
it is not a core business for Bayer," said Gerald Wagner, Senior Vice
President of the Bayer Diagnostics Laboratory Testing Segment. "We believe
Serologicals Corporation can better develop the potential of these products
and provide a stronger focus and more synergistic fit with the Pentex
technology, process and markets."
Pentex generated revenues of approximately $13.5 million in 1997 and
employs approximately 60 people. Serologicals will offer employment to all
current employees at the Kankakee location.
The sale of the Pentex business is one of several recent strategic moves
Bayer's Diagnostics Business Group has made during the past year. On November
30, 1998, Bayer announced that it completed the acquisition of Chiron
Diagnostics for $1.1 billion. Bayer's Diagnostics Business Group now offers
customers a complete line of products spanning the Critical Care Testing,
Laboratory Testing, Point-of-Care Testing, Nucleic Acid Testing and Self-
Testing market segments.
Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in
health care and life sciences, chemicals and imaging technologies. The
company had 1997 sales of $9.3 billion and employs more than 26,000 people.
Bayer Corporation is investing $9 billion in capital expenditures and research
and development from 1995 through the year 2000. 1998 capital investment and
R&D expenditures are projected to total $1.7 billion. Bayer Corporation, with
headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a
$32 billion chemical and pharmaceutical company based in Leverkusen, Germany.
Pentex is a registered trademark of Bayer Corporation.
SOURCE Bayer Corporation
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