The company is “especially excited” about an immune cell therapy manufacturing technology included in the deal, a Merck KGaA executive said.
Merck KGaA has agreed to buy Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion to acquire consumables and equipment used in activities including the production of advanced therapeutics.
Bio-Techne provides products for use across drug discovery, development and manufacturing, as well as for diagnostics. The development and manufacturing of advanced therapeutics is the smallest of the company’s three main areas, accounting for $5 billion of its $27 billion total addressable market. But the area has also experienced more than 20% growth, making it Merck KGaA’s fastest-expanding space.
The takeover is Merck KgaA’s third-largest acquisition ever. The company has agreed to pay $73 a share for Bio-Techne, a 36% premium over the average trading price across the past month. Bio-Techne increased sales from $714 million in 2019 to $1.2 billion in 2025, Jean-Charles Wirth, CEO of Merck’s life sciences business, said on an investor call about the deal.
Consumables account for 81% of Bio-Techne sales, “creating a highly durable and recurring revenue profile” supported by positions in high-growth markets, including cell therapy manufacturing, Wirth said. The consumable portfolio includes good manufacturing practice-compliant reagents and media.
Cell therapy is “a small business, but growing nicely,” Wirth said. Bio-Techne positioned itself to expand in the area in 2021, when it secured an option to buy Wilson Wolf once the company passed a revenue or earnings threshold. Wilson Wolf sells G-Rex, a platform for producing immune cells.
Bio-Techne bought a 20% stake in Wilson Wolf in 2023. Merck KgaA expects Bio-Techne to acquire the rest of the company by 2028 and is “especially excited about the opportunity to secure access to the next-gen, highly scalable manufacturing technology for immune cell therapy,” Wirth said.
Wirth named cell therapies alongside targeted protein degraders on a list of advanced therapies that are made using Bio-Techne products. Key elements of Bio-Techne’s offering include protein characterization and quantification, as well as quality control testing, Wirth said. The Merck KgaA executive predicted that the advanced therapy manufacturing sector will grow at over 20% annually in the coming years.
Merck plans to use its global footprint to support Bio-Techne’s products. Based in Minnesota, Bio-Techne has “historically been weighted toward the Americas,” Wirth said. Regions including Asia-Pacific and Europe “offer meaningful opportunities for growth and expansion,” he added, and Merck KgaA believes its go-to-market model and omnichannel customer reach can benefit Bio-Techne.
While Merck KgaA highlighted the potential to help Bio-Techne expand overseas, the company’s model for the takeover assumes no revenue synergies. Merck KgaA expects to realize annual cost synergies of about €140 million ($159.6 million) within three years of closing the takeover.
