Agilent's proposed acquisition of Varian cleared by European Commission

Agilent's proposed acquisition of Varian has been granted conditional antitrust clearance from the European Commission.

As part of the European Commission's clearance decision, Agilent and Varian have committed to sell,
Varian's laboratory gas chromatography (GC) business
Varian's triple quadrupole gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS triple quad) business
Varian's inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) business
Agilent's micro gas chromatography (micro GC) business.

Agilent expects the acquisition of Varian to close in early calendar 2010.

"The European Commission's decision is a key milestone toward completing the transaction that will bring our two firms together," said Agilent President and CEO Bill Sullivan. "We are pleased to have received conditional clearance from the Commission. We are committed to ensuring that each of these four businesses is successfully divested as a viable, competitive business and that all customers remain fully supported during and beyond the divestiture process.

"While we would like to have retained all of the businesses of both companies, these divestitures are not material. We remain very excited about bringing these two companies together to better serve worldwide bio-analytical customers with a broader portfolio of products and services."