LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- General Electric Co.,
moving to broaden its diagnostic offerings, will buy Abbott
Laboratories' in-vitro and point-of-care diagnostics businesses for
$8.13 billion in cash, the companies said Thursday.
The pact, which was unveiled after the markets closed, also is expected
to allow the Abbott operations to expand their markets. Approved by
both companies' boards, the deal is expected to be completed sometime
during the first half of the year.
"The laboratory diagnostics market has
changed considerably in the last decade," Miles D. White, Abbott's
chairman, said in a written statement. "Innovation in this segment will
be increasingly driven by automation, system