TMO won't buy LIFE

Looks like some PE firms got too good a look under the hood...

PE Guy (checking engine compartment of Ferrari Enzo): There's nothing here!

GL: We've modified it! More luggage space! The engine is in front now.

PE Guy: OK, let's check it out.

GL (fumbling with latch): Just a sec... Got to phone my Chief Latch Officer... There we go!

PE Guy: The spec. sheet says 600 hp. That doesn't look like a 600 hp engine.

GL: It really is. I've got the 6 Sigma certification right here.

PE Guy: What's this little footnote on the 600? Oh, octal not decimal...

GL: We do everything in octal at Life Tech

PE Guy: Wait a sec... How about that price per share you're asking? Is that in octal?

GL: No, that's in decimal. We convert all our internal octal accounting to decimal when it makes us look good. Sales octal, debts decimal.

PE Guy: Still doesn't look like a 364 hp engine.

GL: It's got 5S tape on it. It says 600 hp in sharpie right there.

PE Guy: I think I need to look at the fine print. What does hp mean? Let me see that contract...

GL: Sure, it's in the abbreviations.

PE Guy: The h abbrevations are right here on page 2314. I don't see it...

GL: Here, let me show you. It's under P, for power.

PE Guy: Hey, your thumb is covering that word. All I can see is the "h" and power.

GL: I'll drop the contract if I move my thumb.

PE Guy (wrestling with GL): you aren't as good a wrestler as you used to be... Hey, that says hamster, not horse!

The sale of Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) has shifted in favor of strategic buyers for the maker of DNA- sequencing equipment as some buyout firms drop out, said people with knowledge of the matter.

KKR Inc. (KKR), which was part of a group of bidders, has withdrawn from the process, two people said. TPG, which was bidding along with Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group, and Temasek Holdings Pte., withdrew from that group, they said.

If I worked for LIFE in some sort of mid level position what would be the best thing to happen as far as me keeping my job or at least give me enough running room to find a new job i.e. who would start chopping the slowest.

1. PE buys LIFE

2. Danaher ... Not sure what they will do, they could keep everything intact or spin off Ion and Sequencing to Roche.

3. Thermofisher and then spins off Ion and Sequencing to Roche

I know that GL will personally make more money with PE

"I ain't no forener, i is west virginian"

Just as bad, that explains why there are so many mistakes when picking product. Having parents who are blood relatives has a negative effect on their offsprings productivity.

What ruined the company was lack of product innovation, inability to retain and develop talent, and easy access to capital to buy "growth". Gouging loyal customers to death ultimately turned out to be unsustainable.

No ion torrent is ruining the company, hence the sale. Ngs is a small portion of life sales but gobbling up tons of dev costs and resources.

A foolish choice by GL for sure.

So Ion Torrent is the only thing keeping the smoke and mirror show afloat nowadays?

I ain't no forener, i is west virginian

Noone will LIFE. They miss numbers this Quarter.

The sale of Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) has shifted in favor of strategic buyers for the maker of DNA- sequencing equipment as some buyout firms drop out, said people with knowledge of the matter.

KKR Inc. (KKR), which was part of a group of bidders, has withdrawn from the process, two people said. TPG, which was bidding along with Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group, and Temasek Holdings Pte., withdrew from that group, they said.

Looks like some PE firms got too good a look under the hood...

"I am not afraid at all 'cause of my "GOOD" relationship with HP Singapore. HP Singapore made almost almost a million USD each year from LifeTech through "HP Quality Center", which is almost 100 times more expensive than similar products. If anything happens, my friend at HP Singapore will find me another senior manager job.

BTW, the price LT pays for "HP Quality Center" is 10K USD/per user per year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Quality_Center"

Thats typical of Life Tech, treat the foreigners better than they treat those who work in the United States.

Surprised the usual "close foster city" panic hasn't hit today after LT sold the lincoln center campus.

I am not afraid at all 'cause of my "GOOD" relationship with HP Singapore. HP Singapore made almost almost a million USD each year from LifeTech through "HP Quality Center", which is almost 100 times more expensive than similar products. If anything happens, my friend at HP Singapore will find me another senior manager job.

BTW, the price LT pays for "HP Quality Center" is 10K USD/per user per year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Quality_Center

I notice that the deadline for the sale auction bids is set just before the release of first quarter results. Presumably this is just coincidence?

Pure coincidence...

It would seem FC has been sold while lease in SSF being expanded. Interestingly, the same realtor is involved in both deals...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/biomed-realty-lease-204-900-223100429.html

I notice that the deadline for the sale auction bids is set just before the release of first quarter results. Presumably this is just coincidence?

Surprised the usual "close foster city" panic hasn't hit today after LT sold the lincoln center campus.

It is not Lucier - it is the management that would be willing to let him be blind sided instead of admitting they did something wrong.

He's had iron-fisted, screaming, ranting total control for a decade. The people that report to him are there because those are the people he wants reporting to him. He picks lying bullshit over reality every time. He is a below average CEO who has spent 10 years creating an unmanageable mess.

I Have seen managers and senior managers get let go because they tried to cover up the errors in their area and cover them with 5S tape to make it look pretty instead of actually making it efficient.

Now if they could only take that approach with the employment of people at the CEO, CxO, SVP, VP, director and associate director levels (the six or seven levels above managers), it would be a step in the right direction. The is a lot of dead (no, make that poisonous) wood to clear in the first 6 months for the eventual purchaser of this steaming pile of dung.

"What would happen to Frederick site if VC or PE buys LIFE? Not much manufacturing here, only IT and Distribution. And please no bashing logistic management."

Probably shut it down. And why not bash logistics? Does that mattress back still wor in logistics?

It is not Lucier - it is the management that would be willing to let him be blind sided instead of admitting they did something wrong. I Have seen managers and senior managers get let go because they tried to cover up the errors in their area and cover them with 5S tape to make it look pretty instead of actually making it efficient.

why so much fixation on lucifer? I realize he is the source, but there are so many fakers at life on his senior staff, no one talks about...

quick poll: who is the worst at life other than Lucifer? we have to get it out before they all make off with their $$ with the sale!

They just more actively managing cashflow. You won't get pay til April 1st after quarter is over and then the net45 kick in. They will claim to not received invoices and start all over again. Such is LIFE's MO.

Life Tech is not paying their bills! Anyone else having this problem? We are supplier for them, and are promised terms of 28 days---now 60 days overdue.

Can anyone come up with a plausible outcome and time lines for these scenarios?

Final stock price: $63 low / $75 high

what happens to Ion: Spun-off, managed separately, perhaps IPO

the other divisions: Consumables chopped-up, sold off in pieces. Synthetic bio, vertical plays, etc. will be future growth engines.

jobs lost or gained: 30% to 65% jobs lost (net)

A. LIFE gets bought by TMO: <5% chance

B. PE decides that they can make money with LIFE: >95% chance

C. Danaher comes up with the cash buys LIFE: <0% chance

D. Nothing happens, the BOD decides that none of the offers are any good and votes to cancel the auction and be satisfied with the current situation: <0% chance

F. Roche is the successful bidder: <10% chance

Outsource IT and Logistics, close IMS and celldirect, relocate R&D.

Can anyone come up with a plausible outcome and time lines for these scenarios? Please include stock price, what happens to Ion and the other divisions, jobs lost or gained.

A. LIFE gets bought by TMO.

B. PE decides that they can make money with LIFE.

C. Danaher comes up with the cash buys LIFE.

D. Nothing happens, the BOD decides that none of the offers are any good and votes to cancel the auction and be satisfied with the current situation.

Now it looks like you should add:

F. Roche is the successful bidder.

Roche joins bidding for Life Technologies, Reuters reports
Roche (RHHBY) has hired bankers to explore a potential bid Life Technologies (LIFE), while private equity firms KKR (KKR) and Hellman & Friedman are exploring a joint bid for the biomedical laboratory equipment maker, Reuters reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters previously reported that Thermo Fisher (TMO) and Danaher (DHR) are also weighing bids for Life, which are due in early April. Shares of Life Technologies rallied 2%, or $1.33, to $64.25 following Reuters' report.

Outsource IT and Logistics, close IMS and celldirect, relocate R&D.

Can anyone come up with a plausible outcome and time lines for these scenarios? Please include stock price, what happens to Ion and the other divisions, jobs lost or gained.

A. LIFE gets bought by TMO.

B. PE decides that they can make money with LIFE.

C. Danaher comes up with the cash buys LIFE.

D. Nothing happens, the BOD decides that none of the offers are any good and votes to cancel the auction and be satisfied with the current situation.

Outsource IT and Logistics, close IMS and celldirect, relocate R&D.

What would happen to Frederick site if VC or PE buys LIFE? Not much manufacturing here, only IT and Distribution. And please no bashing logistic management.

Here's the real question....why on earth do customers continue to buy from LifeTech????

It's too bad GL will never have to face the same humiliation as the 30 to 50% of existing staff who will be cut within 12 months of the sale. Would be fun to watch him pack all of his fake awards and ego into a box.

Life is definitely a streetwalker company.

"All potential buyers are approached, as opposed to going to a select few buyers for a potential deal."

A good analogy would be the comparison between an exclusive escort service and a streetwalker. Think what will happen to LIFE's stock price when the streetwalker approach fails.

"What does Full Auction mean?"
All potential buyers are approached, as opposed to going to a select few buyers for a potential deal.

What does Full Auction mean?

Rent the 90s movie "Barbarians At The Gates" it will explain everything about the LIFE buyout and also has an example of a full auction in it.

What does Full Auction mean?

Karma....

"Life has initiated a full auction process"

There are so many eBay auctions for LIFE that I can't find the right one. Yet another example of the crappy choice of stock symbol.

I guess you didn't see the report that Life has initiated a full auction process to sell the company?

BS LIFE will not be sold.

LLIFE

FOREVER

Or at least for another 3-4 months.

LLIFE

FOREVER

This is not complicated. Life is being sold so shareholders can finally make some $ and stop watching this POS company do nothing it says it will accomplish. And FYI, the shareholders who will do best are senior mgmt and BOD.

Life management proved over the years that they were incapable of creating value, hence the current situation. Say what you will about GE mgmt style, but at least they can create value for shareholders over the long term. Except reject ex-GE mgmt that think they can learn some buzz words and manage a "diagnostics" company. Finally this pathetic joke of a company will be off the map soon...

he BOD is negligent for letting this dog and pony show go on for so long. Only option to grow shareholder value now is to find a sucker to buy as all other means (organic growth, acquisitions) are no longer viable...

OK, so let's assume you're a shareholder who wants value "unlocked". The sucker (oh sorry, private equity buyer) must see an opportunity to make a 20% return in 18-24 months, or why enter a bidding war. For all the money they are being paid, why can't LIFE's current management find that same 20% opportunity and execute that plan to unlock even more shareholder value without the hassle paying all the lawyers involved in a buyout? Well, other than the fact that the current LIFE management has a track record of a decade of mediocrity.

Why does any Corp. sell out to PE and allow themselves to be subjected to ham-handed cost cutting and then sold off division by division by a bunch of know nothing money jockeys. The existing management does not have a clue about creating organic growth because they themselves have no technically ability and are greedy SOBs. Creating growth for shareholders is risky hard work and they would farm it out to PE and take the cheap bucks and run.

The BOD is negligent for letting this dog and pony show go on for so long. Only option to grow shareholder value now is to find a sucker to buy as all other means (organic growth, acquisitions) are no longer viable...

OK, so let's assume you're a shareholder who wants value "unlocked". The sucker (oh sorry, private equity buyer) must see an opportunity to make a 20% return in 18-24 months, or why enter a bidding war. For all the money they are being paid, why can't LIFE's current management find that same 20% opportunity and execute that plan to unlock even more shareholder value without the hassle paying all the lawyers involved in a buyout? Well, other than the fact that the current LIFE management has a track record of a decade of mediocrity.

GL blew his political chances so LT is his only paying option. I can't imagine any company with a market cap over say, 10 million, having an interest in his "experience". Dude is a nobody in the real world, but he some how continues to fool the board into thinking he has some sort of life science mojo.

Talk of GL wanting to stay on is BS. Only way to increase shareholder value (aka GL's options) is to sell this flaming turd before it implodes and people know it. GL's BS of staying on is one part ploy to make it seem like he isn't pulling the ripcord and trying to get out of Dodge before the sheriff arrives, one part Invitrogen pie in the sky, cult of personality thinking, one part GL has a vision about making NGS a common tool used in everyday medicine...except he ain't a scientist/doctor and has no f'n clue on what it will actually take to do that, and one part not wanting to give up the LIFE SHOW yet, because maybe PE will promise to let him keep doing the LIFE SHOW from his yacht...NOT!

The BOD is negligent for letting this dog and pony show go on for so long. Only option to grow shareholder value now is to find a sucker to buy as all other means (organic growth, acquisitions) are no longer viable...

GL blew his political chances so LT is his only paying option. I can't imagine any company with a market cap over say, 10 million, having an interest in his "experience". Dude is a nobody in the real world, but he some how continues to fool the board into thinking he has some sort of life science mojo.

Can't understand that, sources say he stands to make $450 million if he goes the TMO path and then gets laid off, its in his contract

Think you're off by a factor of ten on that amount (you're high, not low). I'm sure that the private equity route would yield him more, as his compensation package would be much less transparent to the outside world once the company is no longer listed on the NASDAQ and he's in charge of the dismantling. He would presumably be making a cut of each deal as he chops and sells.

Quit now and spare yourself the embarrassemnt of having to do the perp walk when they eliminate your position and escort you out the building.

You won't get the severance package if you quit now. Actually, I hope they will lay me off so that I can go back go HP Singapore as a R&D manager.

BA type reporting for duty. I'll use an analogy to help everyone understand what is going to happen.

Life Tech is like a closeted young gay boy from the midwest. Private equity is The Castro on a Friday night before a Pride parade. Life Tech is about to get stripped and passed around the neighborhood all night long, if you understand me. The only thing left of LT will be a bloody stump once the PE buzz saw is done

LOL... GL for some reason wants to go the PE route??? Can't understand that, sources say he stands to make $450 million if he goes the TMO path and then gets laid off, its in his contract. He likes PE because he wants to still run the company but running the company with a PE firm like KKR he will only make a quarter of that. Why would GL give up millions just so he can have a hand in running the new LIFE?

I had not allowed myself to be coerced by LIFE HR into taking all my vacation last year

How can you tell if LIFE HR are lying.

They are still breathing.

You really think HR have your interests at heart, right!!

With all this "unlocking of shareholder value" going down I now look back and wished I had not allowed myself to be coerced by LIFE HR into taking all my vacation last year. They said they were just looking out for my health and well being, when actually they were clearing the decks to lay off at will in 2013 when they start creating all this "shareholder value"