Meridian Bioscience Inc. announced an agreement Thursday to be acquired by a consortium of South Korea-based SD Biosensor Inc. and private equity firm SJL Partners LLC in a cash deal valued at $1.53 billion. Under terms of the deal, Meridian shareholders will receive $34.00 in cash for each Meridian share they own, representing a 1.3% premium to Wednesday’s closing price of $33.55. The company said the per-share bid represented a 32% premium over its stock price ($25.67) before the consortium’s first bid before the market opened on March 18. The life science company’s stock was halted for news until 7:45 a.m. Eastern. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022. Separately, Meridian said it expects fiscal third-quarter revenue to be between $66 million and $69 million, compared with the FactSet consensus of $69.6 million. The stock has soared 20.4% over the pat three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has lost 14.6%.
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