Thermo completes $145m Ahura Scientific purchase

Thermo Fisher has completed its $145m acquisition of Ahura Scientific, saying that the deal expands its portfolio "with a suite of instruments designed to bring lab-accurate analysis directly to the point of need."

Ahura, with sales of around $45m a year, specialises in handheld analysers for identifying and authenticating chemical substances in the safety and security, pharmaceutical and industrial markets.

In pharma its best-known product is TruScan, used for raw material inspection and to identify counterfeit product. The system is used by nine out of the top 10 drugmakers, according to Thermo.

Thermo announced its intention to purchase Ahura in January, saying that the deal would expand its portfolio of portable analysers and create a "powerful tool set" for our customers.

The instrumentation giant also markets a range of handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysers, as well as benchtop Raman and FT-IR spectrometers and gas chromatographs for raw materials verification.

Ahura Scientific will now operate as Thermo Fisher Scientific's new Portable Optical Analysis business unit.

- Meanwhile, Thermo Fisher has seen its $6bn bid for life sciences lab equipment company Millipore topped by a rival offer from Merck KGaA of $107 per share, or around $7.2bn. Millipore makes a range of products for laboratory research, drug discovery and development, filtration and bioprocessing."This is a combination with an excellent strategic fit, which will allow us to cover the entire value chain for our pharma and biopharma customers," said Merck chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley.

Related articles:

Ahura Scientific bought by Thermo for $145m

Ahura scanners bound for Nigerian drugs regulator

TruScan now available in German, Chinese

Ahura sales top $100m threshold

New CFO at Ahura Scientific