PerkinElmer has signed an agreement to acquire antibody and reagent maker BioLegend for nearly $5.25bn in cash and stock.

PerkinElmer noted that the acquisition, which is subject to some adjustments, will be its largest so far.

BioLegend delivers antibodies and reagents in cytometry, proteogenomics, multiplex assays, recombinant proteins, magnetic cell separation and bioprocessing fields to its academic and biopharmaceutical clients.

The company, which has about 700 employees mainly based in the US, expects revenues of $380m next year.

On concluding the acquisition, BioLegend will extend PerkinElmer’s current life science business into new areas. PerkinElmer anticipates the deal to help fast-track discoveries in precision medicine.

Furthermore, BioLegend’s campus in San Diego, California, US, will be converted into PerkinElmer’s International Center of Excellence (CoE) to develop research reagent content for the merged company.

PerkinElmer president and CEO Prahlad Singh said: “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring our technologies and innovative cultures together to create seamless solutions to push science and discovery forward.

“We believe joining our teams presents an incredible opportunity to accelerate discoveries that help life science researchers leverage ever-developing technologies and novel approaches to better understand and fight disease.”

PerkinElmer noted that the merged company will create immediate revenue synergies which are estimated to reach $100m yearly by the fifth year after the conclusion of the deal.

BioLegend founder, president and CEO Gene Lay said: “The combination will afford us the opportunity to continue to build on our two-decade foundation of innovative science and scale in new and highly attractive PerkinElmer areas such as clinical diagnostics and food safety testing.”

Goldman Sachs is acting as PerkinElmer’s exclusive financial advisor while JP Morgan Securities is the exclusive financial advisor for BioLegend.

Subject to necessary regulatory approvals and other closing conditions, the acquisition is anticipated to conclude by the end of this year.

PerkinElmer formed an assay development and sample testing collaboration with BioLegend to provide immunological reagents to biomedical research communities in May 2009.

In May, PerkinElmer entered an agreement to acquire UK-based in-vitro diagnostics company Immunodiagnostic Systems for approximately $155m (￡110m) in cash.