Cancer lab to double sales after $275M deal

FORT MYERS — NeoGenomics says it has agreed to acquire rival cancer-testing laboratory Clarient, a unit of GE Healthcare Life Sciences, in a $275 million deal.

The purchase price includes $80 million in cash, $110 million in preferred stock and 15 million shares of NeoGenomics common stock. NeoGenomics is publicly traded (symbol: NEO; recent price: $5.68). GE Healthcare, with the shares, will own 32% of the combined company after the deal is completed in the fourth quarter.

Clarient is based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and Houston and has about 415 employees. The company posted revenues of $127 million in 2014 and adjusted earnings of $13 million.

“Our vision is to become America's premier cancer testing laboratory, and this acquisition is a major step forward in achieving that vision,” says NeoGenomics' chairman and CEO, Douglas VanOort, in a statement.

“In addition, NeoGenomics and GE Healthcare have agreed to collaborate on a new bioinformatics initiative that combines their shared interest in precision oncology,” VanOort says in the statement. “The collaboration will explore the potential for new products that combine genomic and imaging data, with the aim of helping reduce healthcare costs and improving the care of patients with cancer.”

With headquarters and a lab in Fort Myers, NeoGenomics also operates labs in Tampa, Nashville and in California in Irvine, Fresno and Sacramento. Both Clarient and NeoGenomics provide cancer-testing services to hospitals, physicians and the pharmaceutical industry.