San Diego-based diagnostic testing company Quidel Corporation finalized its purchase of Diagnostic Hybrids Inc. for about $130 million cash Friday.
Quidel, which provides medical supplies to health clinics and research centers, bought the privately owned, Athens-based company in January.
Ohio University will receive between $35 million and $41 million for its share of Diagnostic Hybrids, depending on the company's value at the time of its sale. OU has not yet received a final number. In 1983, the OU Foundation invested $1 million in the company.
Diagnostic Hybrids, which was founded by a team of OU scientists in 1983, manufactures cellular and molecular diagnostic kits to identify diseases, according to its Web site.
One of the company's founders, Dr. Wilfred R. Konneker, gifted all of his shares - 25 percent of Diagnostic Hybrids, a portion he now estimates around $10 million - to OU about 10 years ago, provided that about 80 percent would go to the Cutler Scholars Program and about 20 percent to the Kennedy Museum of Art.
Diagnostic Hybrids will become a subsidiary of Quidel, but send revenue and financial reports back to California, said Quidel Spokeswoman Pam Lord said. President and CEO David Scholl will continue to oversee operations in Athens.
Quidel President Douglas Bryant previously said he was committed to keeping the company's current employees and continuing operations in Athens.
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Kristina Hauptmann
