Agilent Technologies and Seahorse Bioscience have signed a definitive agreement under which Agilent will acquire Seahorse Bioscience, for $235 million in cash.

Seahorse Bioscience's technology enables researchers to better understand cell health, function and signaling, and how the cell may be impacted by the introduction of a specific drug, by providing real-time kinetics to unlock essential cellular bioenergetics data.

"Seahorse Bioscience's unique technology is the perfect complement to Agilent's market-leading separations and mass spectrometry solutions, in particular for metabolomics research and disease research in pharma," said Mr Patrick Kaltenbach, president of Agilent's Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group. He added, "The combination of these two platforms gives scientists a more comprehensive and faster path to researching the most challenging diseases affecting mankind. Seahorse's team and technology are an ideal fit for Agilent and for our customers, and we look forward to bringing them on board."

"We are proud to have enabled the exploration of bioenergetics in living cells by nearly 10,000 scientists worldwide, and to have created a new category of cell-based assay tools," said Mr Jay Teich, chief executive officer, Seahorse Bioscience. He added, "Joining Agilent, a premier, customer-focused supplier of technology to a much broader market, will give many more researchers access to Seahorse tools. And when these two technology-rich companies combine, we expect to offer a series of new products and applications that will benefit our customers."

Privately held Seahorse Bioscience, founded in 2001, is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, with manufacturing operations in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Regional offices are in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Shanghai, China. Seahorse Bioscience employs just under 200 people, most of whom are expected to join Agilent.

The acquisition is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, subject to local laws and regulations and customary closing conditions.