Repligen to Buy BioLife Solutions for $1.5 Billion as Growth Cools
Repligen paired preliminary second-quarter revenue growth of about 12%, decelerating for a second straight quarter, with a definitive agreement to acquire BioLife Solutions for roughly $1.5 billion.
Repligen (RGEN) said preliminary second-quarter revenue rose approximately 12% on a reported basis and 13% organically, and disclosed a definitive agreement to acquire BioLife Solutions for about $1.5 billion in enterprise value. The bioprocessing-technology maker's reported growth rate has now decelerated for two consecutive quarters, down from 15% in the first quarter and 18% in the fourth quarter of 2024, even as the organic figure ticked up from 11% in the first quarter.
The BioLife deal is the largest disclosure in the release and was not previewed in either of the prior two quarterly reports. Repligen agreed to pay $31.00 a share for BioLife Solutions, split between $11.25 in cash and 0.1442 shares of Repligen stock per BioLife share, with the transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025. BioLife, a maker of biopreservation and cell-therapy tools, reported preliminary second-quarter revenue of $28.5 million, up 21% from $23.4 million a year earlier.
Repligen said the acquisition is expected to add to its top-line growth, adjusted margins and adjusted earnings, contributing at least 5 cents a share in the first year after closing and at least 25 cents a share in the second year, with synergies of more than $20 million in year one rising above $30 million in year two. Those targets mark a new forward-looking guidance element that did not appear in either the first-quarter or fourth-quarter releases.
On the underlying business, Repligen expects strong year-over-year margin expansion in the second quarter, extending a trend evident in its most recent reported results. Adjusted operating margin expanded 160 basis points in the first quarter of 2025, following 240 basis points of adjusted expansion (90 basis points on a GAAP basis) in the fourth quarter of 2024. First-quarter GAAP operating margin reached 8.2%, up from 3.9% a year earlier, while adjusted operating margin rose to 15.4% from 13.8%, outpacing the roughly 150-to-160-basis-point pace Repligen had guided to. First-quarter GAAP earnings were 15 cents a share, up 50% from 10 cents, and adjusted earnings were 48 cents, up 23% from 39 cents.
Repligen's full-year 2025 guidance has shifted modestly over the two most recent quarters. With first-quarter results on May 5, the company reiterated organic revenue growth of 9% to 13% and raised adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $1.97 to $2.05 a share. That compared with the initial 2025 guidance issued alongside fourth-quarter results on February 24, which called for reported revenue growth of 10% to 14%, organic growth of 9% to 13% and roughly 150 basis points of adjusted operating margin expansion. The organic range has held steady even as the reported-growth ceiling was trimmed and specific earnings targets were added.
Repligen has also been reshaping its portfolio ahead of the BioLife transaction. In the first quarter it completed the divestiture of Polymem, a non-core filtration business that generated $7 million in 2024 revenue and had been operating at a loss, and launched a restructuring effort it called the Transformation Office. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities stood at $785 million as of March 31, up from $768 million at the end of December.
Fourth-quarter 2024 organic growth of 14% was attributed specifically to outperformance in the Analytics and Proteins businesses, though Repligen has not repeated or updated that segment-level detail in either of the two subsequent releases.