With more than 80% of its “rapidly growing” revenues tied to large molecule applications, Waters said the acquisition of Wyatt will accelerate its own ability to build a high-growth business in bioanalytical characterization for new modalities.

New additions to the portfolio will include cell and gene therapies, which Waters said “represents a significant opportunity with a $1.8 billion total addressable market and 10-12% projected annual growth.”

Wyatt’s highly complementary analytical technologies, together with Waters’ global reach and expertise in simplifying sophisticated techniques for high-volume applications should positions Waters to better serve the fast-growing needs of its global customers, the Massachusetts-based company commented.

Announcing the takeover plans in February, Waters said the deal will broaden Wyatt’s global reach and scale, further expanding the Santa Barbara company’s footprint in Europe and Asia. The combination will accelerate deployment of Wyatt’s light scattering technologies and techniques in downstream, high-volume and recurring QA/QC applications, through Waters’ well-established Empower informatics platform, it added.

Udit Batra, president and CEO of Waters, called the acquisition a “significant milestone” in advancing the company’s strategy to accelerate value creation and generate faster growth. Together, he said the two players will be better able to solve customers’ critical challenges with differentiated bioanalytical characterization techniques. 

While financial details were not disclosed, Waters it is funding the acquisition through cash on its balance sheet and existing borrowing capacity available on its revolving credit facility

Waters said earlier that the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to its revenue growth and margin profile as well as its adjusted earnings per share beginning in Q1 2024. Additionally, the company expects to generate more than $70 million in annual revenue synergies by the fifth year after closing. 

With more than 8,200 employees worldwide, Waters has 14 production sites in in 35 countries and products sold in more than 100 countries.

 Wyatt Technology claims to be the “recognized leader” in light scattering instrumentation and software for determining the absolute molar mass, size, charge, and interactions of macromolecules and nanoparticles in solution.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist