Brussels, 27/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 26 November, the European Commission authorised the takeover of Life Technologies Corp. par Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. These two leading US companies are active in the life sciences field. Thermo Fisher will, however, have to divest: its HyClone business regarding media and sera for cell culture (excluding single use technologies, where the parties' activities do not overlap); its gene modulation business (including gene silencing) in Lafayette, Colorado, US, including the Dharmacon and Open Biosystems brands, equipment, staff and its licence regarding the Tuschl patents; its polymer-based magnetic beads business (including the Sera-Mag brand and all other relevant IPRs, customer contracts, personnel and the necessary production equipment). In addition, Thermo Fisher will have to commit to a 2-year transitional agreement to supply magnetic beads to the purchaser. During its investigation into this operation worth $13 billion, the Commission identified concerns over barriers to market entry and the large combined market shares of the merged entity in the cell culture market, as well as gene silencing products, along with the overly strong global position of the new undertaking in the production and supply of polymer-based magnetic beads. If Thermo Fisher meets its commitments, the Commission believes that the competition problems should be resolved. (FG/transl.fl)