Abaxis acquired by Zoetis

Zoetis entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire all outstanding common shares of point-of-care diagnostics specialist Abaxis. The transaction was executed as an all-cash tender offer of $83 per share, financed through a combination of existing balance-sheet cash reserves and new debt issuance. Announced on May 16, 2018, and completed later that year, the strategic acquisition positions Zoetis to capture market share across the veterinary point-of-care diagnostics segment, an industry valued at over $3 billion that expanded at a 10% compound annual growth rate over the preceding three years. At the time of announcement, Abaxis recorded annual revenue of $245m for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, up 8% year-over-year, deriving 83% ($201.9 million) from veterinary testing and 16% ($38.6 million) from human medical diagnostics, with consumable discs and cartridges generating 78% of revenues ($191.3 million) across a team of more than 580 employees. Abaxis generated 20% of its fiscal 2018 sales internationally, whereas Zoetis posted 2017 revenue of $5.3 billion with approximately 9,000 employees, direct operations in 45 countries, and commercial distribution in over 100 countries. In structuring the transaction, Zoetis retained Guggenheim Securities and Barclays as financial advisors alongside Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as legal advisor, while Abaxis was advised financially by Piper Jaffray as exclusive advisor and legally by Cooley LLP. This build-up enables Zoetis to scale the VetScan instrument and consumable portfolio globally, building an integrated continuum of animal care and delivering accretive earnings per share beginning in 2019.