A Medical Device Daily

BioSource International (Camarillo, California) reported that it has received an unsolicited proposal from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, California), a multi-national manufacturer of life science research products and clinical diagnostics, to acquire the company.

In a letter sent to BioSource's chairman on April 6, Bio-Rad expressed an interest in acquiring all of BioSource's outstanding shares at $8.50 a share in cash (roughly $82 million). Bio-Rad also provided the company with notice of its intention to nominate six directors for election to the BioSource board at the company's 2005 annual meeting, scheduled to be held on May 24.

Bio-Rad's proposal is subject to certain conditions, including completion of due diligence and a mutually acceptable merger agreement.

BioSource said, however, that Genstar Capital Partners II, its largest stockholder, has informed it that the proposed price is significantly below Genstar's view of BioSource's inherent value. Nonetheless, the offer represented a significant premium over BioSource's Wednesday closing price of $6.75 on the American Stock Exchange.

BioSource said that its board will review the proposal and will respond following the completion of its review, the company said.

BioSource is a life sciences company focused on providing integrated solutions in the areas of functional genomics, proteomics, and drug discovery.

Advanced Medical Optics (AMO; Santa Ana, California) and Visx (Santa Clara, California) reported that they have set the close of business on April 14 as the record date for determining which stockholders are entitled to receive a notice of, and to vote at, their respective special meetings of stockholders to approve AMO's acquisition of Visx.

The roughly $1.27 billion cash-and-stock offer was first disclosed last November (Medical Device Daily, Nov. 11, 2004).

Visx stockholders are expected to receive 0.552 shares of AMO stock and $3.50 in cash for every share of common stock owned. AMO expects the exchange of shares to be tax-free to Visx stockholders.

Upon completion of the transaction, AMO's stockholders will own about 58.5% of the combined company and Visx's stockholders will own roughly 41.5% of the company.

While the dates for the special meetings have not yet been set, the companies said they continue to expect to close the transaction sometime in 2Q05.

AMO is a maker of eye care products and optical surgical equipment,

Visx is a laser eye surgery company.