Axis-Shield accepts Alere takeover bid

Scottish diagnostic device company Axis-Shield has accepted a takeover bid by US ‘connected health’ specialist Alere three months after rejecting a slightly lower offer from the same company.

Alere is motivated to acquire Axis-Shield’s Afinion multi-parameter point of care testing devices, which compete with its US diagnostic products.

Axis-Shield rejected an offer of £230m from the US company in July but has now accepted an offer of £235m, an increase of only 2%.

The Dundee-based company blamed the “volatile economic and market backdrop” for its amended decision.

Alere took its second offer directly to Axis-Shield’s shareholders following the company’s rejection of its first offer.

Business analyst Mike Mitchell of Seymour Pierce commented that the increase in the offer was “not much more than a token gesture,” adding that “under more settled circumstances, the board may have considered to take a more robust position.”

Afinion, described by Axis-Shield as “a new concept in Point of Care”, is a multiparameter analyser device for on-the-spot testing of whole blood, plasma or urine samples for a range of characteristics including HbA1c and cholesterol.

Based in Massachusetts, Alere specialises in diagnostic testing systems for a range of conditions, supporting home-based healthcare through a ‘connected health’ strategy.