NanoString announced Wednesday that it will be acquired by Bruker, ending the company’s restructuring process that included a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan.
Bruker, a Massachusetts-based publicly traded life sciences research and diagnostic giant founded in 1960, will pay $392.6 million to buy Seattle-based NanoString. The deal is expected to close next month.
NanoString said in February that it initiated a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan and was exploring a potential sale following its loss in a patent infringement case against 10X Genomics.
The company said Wednesday that it received a “stalking horse” bidder in March as part of the bankruptcy process, but Bruker made its own bid last week that represented a 78% increase in value, approximately, compared to the previous offer.
A jury in November awarded more than $31 million in damages for 10X Genomics, a Pleasanton, Calif. company that accused NanoString of infringing on seven patents related to NanoString’s GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler that analyzes RNA and protein.
NanoString then went through several rounds of layoffs, including a 9% cut announced in January that impacted 50 positions.
Shares of NanoString traded at record highs in 2021, above $80/share, but steadily fell over the next two years. In January the company received a notice from Nasdaq about its stock price being below the $1/share minimum requirement for 30 consecutive business days.
Founded in 2003, NanoString spun out of Institute for Systems Biology and went public in 2013. It previously announced layoffs in October, cutting about 110 positions.
“NanoString’s market-leading platforms for spatial biology and gene expression are enabling researchers to gain unprecedented insights into cancer, immunology, neurology, and other critical disease areas,” NanoString CEO Brad Gray said in a statement. “As a global leader in the life science analytical instrument industry, Bruker is uniquely positioned to ensure ongoing customer access to NanoString’s innovations.”
