Becton, Dickinson Acquires GeneOhm Sciences

On February 13, 2006, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDC) completed the acquisition of the issued and outstanding securities of GeneOhm Sciences, Inc. (GSI), the parent company of GeneOhm Sciences Canada, Inc. (formerly Infectio Diagnostic (I.D.I.), Inc.) of Quebec City, under an Agreement and Plan of Merger entered into among, inter alia, GSI, BDC and Triple Play Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of BDC. The total value of the transaction was approximately US$255 million, plus up to US$25 million in additional incentives. An important shareholder of GSI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF), a Quebec Government investment agency.

BDC and its affiliate were represented by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP with a team that included Rod Howard and Joseph Wyatt. BDC was represented in-house by Jeffrey Sherman, general counsel, and Richard Carbone, associate general counsel.

GSI was represented by Cooley Godward LLP with a team that included Barbara Borden and Patrick Loofbourrow.

SGF and its subsidiary were represented by its in-house counsel Bertrand Thibert, with assistance in Canada by Heenan Blaikie LLP with a team that included Auguste Masson (corporate) and Manon Thivierge (taxation), and assistance in the US by Winston & Strawn LLP with a team that included James Topinka and Christine Höfliger (corporate) and Michael Moetell (taxation).