Merck KGaA, the German pharmaceuticals, chemicals and laboratory science group, is selling its MilliporeSigma Flow Cytometry unit to Luminex, based at Austin, Texas, in the US.

The transaction worth €62.5 million ($75 million) is due to close end of 2018, subject to customary conditions. Around $69.9 million of the purchase price is to be paid under a Stock and Asset Purchase Agreement and another $5.1 million in committed inventory purchases.

Following the deal, Luminex will own the flow cytometry platforms Amnis and Guava and the associated reagents under those brands, which Merck said encompass a portfolio of leading technologies serving the research sector.

The companies said the “strategic agreement” will allow Luminex to increase its footprint in the multi-billion-dollar flow cytometry market and expand its offering of flow-based detection systems, focused on the xMAP multiplexing technology. This combines advanced fluidics, optics and digital signal processing with proprietary microsphere technology to deliver industry-leading, multiplexed assay capabilities.

Udit Batra, member of the Merck executive board and CEO, Life Science, said Luminex is a “long and trusted partner” that has provided the company with a wide range of solutions for clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical drug discovery and biomedical research.