CCI gives green signal to GE-Thermo Fisher deal

Fair trade watchdog CCI has approved General Electric Company's proposed acquisition of businesses of Thermo Fisher Scientific, saying the deal will not have an adverse impact on competition in India.
The proposed deal which involves inter-connected steps of transactions would result in US-based General Electric (GE) purchasing the entire share capital of Thermo Fisher subsidiary, GMC Consolidation.
GMC which will form part of GE Healthcare Life Sciences will own three businesses of Thermo Fisher. These operations are of -- Cell Culture, Gene Silencing and Magnetic Beads.
In an order yesterday, Competition Commission of India (CCI) said that "the proposed combination is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India."

The regulator observed that "combined market share of the parties to the combination is insignificant" in the market of cell culture and magnatic beads in the country.
Further, it noted that there was "no horizontal overlap between the products of the parties to the combination in the market for gene silencing products in India, as presently, only Thermo Fisher is active in this market".

Cell culture is used in the development of biological compounds like vaccines and therapeutic proteins, while magnetic beads which are made of polymer, silica and glass are mostly used in scientific research. Gene silencing, a form of gene modulation, is the process by which the expression of a particular gene is inhibited.

As per the details in the order, GE has proposed to acquire GMC to expand its offering of technologies for the discovery and manufacturing of innovative new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics in its life sciences business.
Currently GE, through its unit GE Healthcare, offers technologies, tools and services for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, vaccines as well as biomedical research. GE Healthcare is active worldwide, including India,
GE had approached CCI for approval earlier last month following a "purchase and sale agreement" pact with Thermo Fisher and GMC on December 24, 2013.