Thermo Fisher said near $12B deal for Life Tech

Thermo Fisher Scientific is close to buying genetic testing equipment maker Life Technologies for more than $12 billion, reports say. The acquisition would make Thermo Fisher a major player in the genetic sequencing market, creating a healthcare technology giant with annual revenues of more than $16 billion and some 50,000 employees. If completed, the deal would be Thermo Fisher's largest since the 2006 $12.8 billion merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific International that created the world's largest maker of scientific equipment and laboratory instruments.