Merck KGaA agreed on June 25, 2026, to acquire Bio-Techne Corporation at $73 per share in cash, valuing the Minneapolis-based life-science tools company at an enterprise value of $11.3 billion (€9.9 billion), according to Merck KGaA's announcement and confirmed by Reuters.

The two companies entered into a definitive agreement, with Merck framing the transaction as a move to strengthen its Life Science segment — the division that competes with Thermo Fisher, Danaher, and Merck's own Sigma-Aldrich franchise in reagents, instruments, and bioprocess consumables. Bloomberg Law confirmed the strategic rationale centres on bolstering Merck's life-science business.

By deal size, this is Merck KGaA's largest acquisition in more than a decade, per Reuters and CNBC. For context, the Darmstadt group — legally and operationally distinct from US-listed Merck & Co. — last swung at comparable scale when it acquired Sigma-Aldrich for roughly $17 billion in 2015, a deal that defined the modern shape of its Life Science segment. An $11.3 billion all-cash transaction a decade later signals that Merck KGaA's balance sheet has recovered sufficient capacity after the leverage that followed Sigma-Aldrich.

Bio-Techne is a specialist producer of proteins, antibodies, immunoassays, and related analytical tools used primarily in drug discovery and development workflows. Its product portfolio — anchored by brands like R&D Systems and Tocris — is deeply embedded in academic and biopharma research labs, generating recurring, high-margin revenue streams with relatively low capital intensity. That profile is precisely what strategic acquirers in the life-science tools space pay premium multiples for. At $11.3 billion enterprise value, Merck is paying for durable recurring revenue and a differentiated reagent catalogue that is difficult to replicate at scale.

The $73 per share headline price is the number that will dominate near-term commentary, but the more analytically significant figure is the implied EV/EBITDA or EV/revenue multiple — details not yet published in the verified materials at the time of writing. What is clear is the all-cash structure, which avoids dilution for Merck KGaA shareholders but places immediate pressure on Merck's debt metrics. How quickly the group can delever post-close will be a key question for fixed-income investors watching its credit profile.

The broader strategic logic is straightforward to read. Life-science tools demand is closely correlated with biopharma R&D spend, which has remained resilient even as biotech funding cycles tightened from their 2021 peak. Merck's Life Science segment already operates at scale, but Bio-Techne's protein and assay franchises would add high-value catalogue depth and reinforce Merck's positioning with customers running early-stage discovery work — a segment where switching costs are high and brand trust compounds over years.

The transaction still requires regulatory clearance and Bio-Techne shareholder approval before closing. All-cash deals at this size typically attract antitrust scrutiny in both the US and EU jurisdictions, though the horizontal overlap between Merck's existing Life Science portfolio and Bio-Techne's product lines will determine whether remedies are required. No closing timeline was specified in the verified materials available as of June 25, 2026.