(Reuters) -Lab equipment maker Waters Corp will merge with larger rival Becton, Dickinson and Company’s
A Reverse Morris Trust deal allows a company to avoid a big tax bill by spinning off a unit that it wants to divest while simultaneously merging it with another company.
Shares of Waters Corp fell 5.8% premarket following the announcement, while Becton’s stock was down 2.3%.
The merger doubles Waters’ addressable market to $40 billion, enhances recurring revenue streams and accelerates expansion into areas such as bioseparations, bioanalytical characterization and multiplex diagnostics, the companies said.
The combined company’s 2025 revenue is expected to be about $6.5 billion.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will boost adjusted earnings per share in the first year, with targeted annual cost savings of $345 million by 2030.
Becton’s shareholders are expected to own about 39.2% of the combined company, while existing Waters shareholders will own the remaining 60.8%.
Becton’s biosciences and diagnostic solutions division produces diagnostic tools, including those used to identify infectious diseases and cancers.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shreya Biswas)
