BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GE (NYSE:GE) announced a definitive agreement to sell its BioPharma business to Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) for a total consideration of $21.4 billion, including $21 billion in cash as well as Danaher’s assumption of certain pension liabilities. GE expects to use the proceeds from the transaction to reduce leverage and strengthen its balance sheet. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. said, “Today’s transaction is a pivotal milestone. It demonstrates that we are executing on our strategy by taking thoughtful and deliberate action to reduce leverage and strengthen our balance sheet. We are retaining full flexibility for growth and strategic optionality with one of the world’s leading healthcare companies, and we are pleased that our BioPharma colleagues will join a strong, established team at Danaher. A more focused portfolio is the right structure for GE, and we have many options for maximizing shareholder value along the way.”

GE Healthcare President and CEO Kieran Murphy said, “The BioPharma business has been a strong contributor to our success, and I am confident this agreement represents a great opportunity for our valued colleagues to flourish under the ownership of Danaher. GE Healthcare has unsurpassed scale and scope and we will continue to focus on our investments so that we deliver better outcomes and more capacity to a world striving for Precision Health.”

The BioPharma business being divested is part of GE Life Sciences. In 2018, the BioPharma business generated revenues of approximately $3 billion. It is a leading provider of instruments, consumables and software that support the research, discovery, process development and manufacturing workflows of biopharmaceutical drugs. The business comprises process chromatography hardware and consumables, cell culture media, single use technologies, development instrumentation and consumables, and service.

Pharmaceutical Diagnostics, currently part of GE Life Sciences, will remain within the GE Healthcare portfolio. This business supplies contrast media and molecular imaging consumables for radiology customers around the world and is highly complementary to GE Healthcare’s medical imaging business. GE’s pharmaceutical imaging agents are used in approximately 90 million patient procedures each year.

GE Healthcare has a global installed base of more than 4 million imaging, mobile diagnostic and monitoring units. In 2018 this business, excluding BioPharma, generated approximately $17 billion of revenue with mid-teens operating profit margins. The business is a leader in imaging, monitoring and diagnostics, and also provides services, accessories, consumables, education, training and consulting.

The transaction is not subject to a financing condition or a shareholder vote.

PJT Partners LP, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal advisor to GE on the transaction.

GE is also announcing the expected dates for the following upcoming investor events:

• Week of February 25: Annual report release, including annual letter and 10-K
• March 5: H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., GE Chairman and CEO, to present at J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation & Industrials conference
• March 7: GE Insurance teach-in conference call for investors
• March 14: GE Outlook conference call
• March 19: Jamie Miller, GE CFO, to present at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Industrials and EU Autos conference

More details on these events will be posted to GE’s Investor Relations website at www.ge.com/investor.

About GE

GE (NYSE:GE) drives the world forward by tackling its biggest challenges. By combining world-class engineering with software and analytics, GE helps the world work more efficiently, reliably, and safely. For more than 125 years, GE has invented the future of industry, and today it leads new paradigms in additive manufacturing, materials science, and data analytics. GE people are global, diverse and dedicated, operating with the highest integrity and passion to fulfill GE’s mission and deliver for our customers. www.ge.com