$4B deal: J&J sells lab testing unit to Carlyle

Johnson & Johnson is selling its Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics business to The Carlyle Group for $4 billion, the company announced Monday.

The Washington, D.C.-based global asset management group made a binding offer for the company for $4.15 billion on Jan. 16.

"We have been focused on the diagnostics industry for many years given its attractive growth prospects, driven by the crucial role it plays in health care decision-making and influencing patient outcomes," said The Carlyle Group managing director Stephen H. Wise at the time. We believe that OCD, with its world class employee base and talented management team, is poised for the next level of success."

Since it was founded in 1987, Carlyle has invested $6.3 billion of equity in healthcare transactions including Pharmaceutical Product Development, Grupo Qualicorp, Healthscope Limited, HCR ManorCare and MultiPlan.

Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, headquartered in Raritan, N.J., has more than 4,500 employees worldwide. Its products include blood donor screening and blood typing tests, as well as other tests to diagnose and monitor diseases. Its recent products include tests for Vitamin D, prostate cancer detection and monitoring and syhphilis.

J&J created an Ortho Products division in 1937. Sixty years later it renamed it as Ortho Clinical Diagnostics the J&J merged two of its independent companies: Ortho Diagnostic Systems and Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics, acquired by J&J from Eastman Kodak Co. in 1994.