Abcam founder slams £4.5bn sale to US conglomerate Danaher

The founder of a UK life sciences giant has urged investors to reject a £4.5bn takeover by US conglomerate Danaher.

Jonathan Milner, who co-founded Abcam in 1998 and retains a 6.1 per cent stake, blasted the ‘low ball’ offer for the Cambridge-based company, which is one of the most successful British biotech firms. 

He has written to shareholders asking them to vote against the deal.

Abcam, which is listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange, is a supplier of medical research products, including antibodies.

Milner, who is trying to oust boss Alan Hirzel as part of his campaign to defeat the takeover deal, said the decision to leave London to list in New York last year was ‘misguided’.

‘I left a ship that was in really good shape and it got navigated into choppy waters,’ Milner, who stepped down as deputy chairman in 2020, told Bloomberg.

‘New York is not the panacea that everybody thinks it is.’