On June 25, 2026, the German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA agreed to buy Bio-Techne, a Minneapolis company that makes tools scientists use in drug research. The price: $73 per share, totaling $11.3 billion, according to Merck KGaA's announcement and Reuters.

This is Merck's biggest purchase in more than a decade. To put it in perspective: in 2015, Merck spent roughly $17 billion buying another company called Sigma-Aldrich. That deal helped Merck become a major supplier of the chemicals, proteins, and instruments that research labs and drug companies need. Bio-Techne sells similar products—proteins, antibodies, and test kits—that are used every day in labs developing new medicines.

Why does Merck want these products? Because once a lab builds its research around a particular brand of tool, switching to a competitor is difficult. It's like a carpenter who has invested years learning to use one brand of hammer and drill—changing tools means retraining and disrupting workflow. Bio-Techne's brands, like R&D Systems and Tocris, are trusted names in thousands of labs. They generate steady, profitable sales with minimal extra investment required to maintain them.

Merck is paying in cash rather than stock. That means Merck shareholders won't be diluted—their ownership stakes in the company stay the same size. But it also means Merck has to borrow money or use reserves, which adds debt to its balance sheet. How quickly Merck pays down that debt will matter to investors who lend it money.

The deal still needs approval from US and European regulators and from Bio-Techne shareholders. Regulators typically examine large acquisitions like this to make sure they don't reduce competition. No closing date has been set yet.