BOSTON -- Fisher Scientific International Inc., a New Hampshire-based laboratory equipment and instruments company founded in Pittsburgh more than 100 years ago, was purchased yesterday by a smaller Massachusetts-based competitor for $10.6 billion, creating a laboratory supply powerhouse.

Bizuayehu Tesfaye, Associated Press Thermo Electron Corp., of Waltham, Mass., is paying $10.6 billion in stock for Fisher Scientific. Click photo for larger image.

Thermo Electron also will assume $2.2 billion in debt from Fisher Scientific in a deal that pairs Thermo Electron's core business in making reusable scientific instruments with Fisher Scientific's strength producing chemical agents for lab work.

The combined company, to be named Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., is expected to have more than $9 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees, the companies announced yesterday. Fisher Scientific had revenue of $5.7 billion last year, compared with Thermo Electron's $2.8 billion.

Based in Hampton, N.H., Fisher Scientific was founded in 1902 in Pittsburgh, where the company still employs about 950 at its North Fayette research center and the city. Last year, it purchased Cellomics Inc., a local biotechnology firm located in the Pittsburgh Technology Center.

Marijn E. Dekkers, president and chief executive of Thermo, will become president and CEO of the combined company, and Paul M. Meister, vice chairman of Fisher, will become chairman of the board. Thermo will nominate five of the eight members of the new board, with Fisher choosing three.

The combined company will be headquartered in Waltham, where Thermo is based.

It also will maintain an office 60 miles away at Fisher's headquarters in Hampton, N.H.

Quintin J. Lai, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co., said the deal will create the first lab supply company offering both reusable instruments and consumable supplies such as chemical powders.

"If you were to use a kitchen analogy, Thermo would be supplying the appliances, and Fisher would be the supermarket," Mr. Lai said. "Right now in the life sciences tool space, we don't have anybody that has all this under one roof."

Fisher's rivals include Becton, Dickinson & Co., Corning Inc. and VWR International, with Thermo competing against Agilent Technologies Inc., Beckman Coulter Inc. and Wellesley-based PerkinElmer Inc.

Mr. Dekkers said in a phone interview that the deal is expected to lead to "minimal job reductions."

"This is all about growth," he said.

Shares of Fisher Scientific rose $2.22, or 3 percent, to close at $75.95 on the New York Stock Exchange after reaching a new 52-week high of $82.05 earlier in the session. Thermo's shares fell 91 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $38.54 after rising to a 52-week high of $41.85 earlier in the day.

If the deal receives regulatory and shareholder approvals, Fisher shareholders will receive 2 shares of Thermo common stock for each Fisher share, with no borrowing required to complete the transaction. Based on Thermo's closing price of $39.45 per share on Friday, this represents a value of $78.90 per Fisher share, or $10.6 billion. The price represents a 7 percent premium over Fisher's closing price of $73.73 on Friday.

Thermo's shareholders would own about 39 percent of the combined company, and Fisher shareholders about 61 percent.

After the transaction closes, Paul M. Montrone, chairman and CEO of Fisher, will step down but will remain an adviser to the company.

Thermo expects adjusted earnings per share of the combined company to range from $2.27 to $2.37 next year, 18 percent higher than Thermo had expected as a stand-alone company.

The companies expect the deal will generate $200 million in savings over three years by streamlining manufacturing, sales, delivery and administrative operations. The 7,500 sales and service employees expect gains from cross-promoting one another's products to 350,000 customers in 150 countries.

China and other Asian countries are expected to be key growth markets for the combined company, executives told analysts in a conference call.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Because the two firms have relatively little product overlap, Mr. Dekkers and Mr. Meister said they expect few complications when the deal undergoes antitrust reviews in the United States and European Union.

Thermo Electron was founded in 1956, originally to develop a method to convert heat into electricity. The company later branched off into lab instruments, and had $2.76 billion in revenue last year and about 11,000 employees.

Fisher Scientific had about $5.69 billion in revenue last year and 19,500 employees.