General Electric’s deal to sell its Biopharma unit to Danaher could be in jeopardy, says Gordon Haskett analyst John Inch, after some competitors posted weaker than expected quarterly results.
Investors expect GE to receive $20B cash from the sale to be used to pay down industrial debt totaling more than $54B at the end of Q1 – a major concern for GE shareholders but perhaps less so after the deal news.
But life science equipment supplier Agilent plunged 11% after reporting Q1 earnings and lowering full-year sales guidance this Tuesday, prompting Inch to note that “the deteriorating life sciences market could still add risks that the [Danaher] deal is renegotiated or scuttled altogether.”
“We believe GE would opt to renegotiate the terms of the deal rather than see it fall apart, considering it would appear this deal is critical to meet the company’s debt reduction schedule and deleveraging commitments to the rating agencies and bondholders,” Inch writes.
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Date: May 20, 2019
Source: Seeking Alpha