By Cecilia Kang
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 13, 2006

Danaher Corp., a tools and industrial supplies maker, continued its buying spree yesterday with its purchase of Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. for $2 billion.

The District-based conglomerate's acquisition gives it a deeper footprint in the dental equipment industry, a market that it has aggressively pursued in recent years with the purchases of X-ray products maker Gendex in February 2004 and KaVo, a precision dental instruments maker, in March 2004.

Sybron, which makes specialty dental equipment, is "a logical extension of Danaher's existing dental equipment portfolio," said Danaher chief executive H. Lawrence Culp. "We also believe there are excellent opportunities to strengthen Sybron Dental as well as accelerate its growth."

Danaher will assume about $200 million of debt from its acquisition of Newport Beach, Calif.-based Sybron, which posted revenue of about $650 million in 2005. Danaher agreed to buy all of Sybron's outstanding stock for $47 a share, more than 12 percent above Tuesday's closing price of $41.74. Sybron makes specialized dental equipment for orthodontics, endodontics and implantology.

Based in the District but with companies and employees all over the world, Danaher has focused its strategy away from cyclical businesses since the 1990s. It has instead focused on high-margin non-cyclical businesses such as makers of professional instruments such as gas pumps, water treatment equipment and telecommunications network hardware.

The company plans to spend $5 billion on acquisitions this year, following the purchase of 16 companies last year, Culp said at a recent investment conference.

Danaher also said Monday that earnings in its first quarter of 2006 will be higher than previously expected at 61 cents to 64 cents per share. Revenue in the quarter was $2.14 billion, up 17.4 percent from the comparable period a year earlier.

Danaher's stock price closed up 0.9 percent, or 60 cents, at $65.95.