Qiagen N.V has entered into a definitive merger agreement to purchase all outstanding shares of Gentra Systems based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The acquisition is expected to expand Qiagen's position as a leading provider of preanalytical and molecular diagnostics solutions to research and diagnostic customers. The transaction is subject to approval by Gentra's shareholders and other customary closing conditions and is expected to close at end of the second quarter 2006.

According to the release, under the terms of the merger agreement, Qiagen will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of Gentra for approximately US$38 million in cash. Qiagen expects to incur one-time charges of approximately US$0.02 in EPS at the closing of this transaction.

"Gentra is a well established leader in nucleic acid purification consumables and automation for important niche markets such as bio-banking and DNA archiving, where larger sample volumes and long term stability are important for customers," said Peer M. Schatz, Qiagen's CEO. "The Gentra products are very complimentary to Qiagen's product and technology portfolio providing additional solutions to enable large-scale research in biomedical, genomic and molecular diagnostic laboratories," he added.

"We are very pleased and excited to join forces with Qiagen, the world's leading provider of pre-analytical solutions and molecular diagnostic assays. Given Qiagen's sales and marketing leadership and geographical reach, we believe the combined companies can expand and accelerate, getting our technologies into the market and into the hands of more customers," Dr. Ruth Shuman, CEO and founder of Gentra said adding, "Qiagen's global presence, its recognized excellence and its operational strength make Qiagen a perfect partner."

Gentra is focused on the niche market of nucleic acid purification from large scale blood samples up to 10 ml. Such large samples volumes are processed mostly in biobanking and DNA archiving market segments where Gentra's Puregene consumables and Autopure LS instruments hold a strong position. In addition, Gentra has developed the Purescript , Versagene and Generation line of nucleic acid purification consumables. The Gentra product line is highly synergistic with Qiagen's product portfolio and broadens Qiagen's value proposition for customers in areas such as molecular diagnostics, biobanking and translational medicine.