Origin Withdraws $17.00 Per Share All-Cash Offer for Affymetrix

Cites Unreasonable Demands and Timeline by Affymetrix

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Origin Technologies Corporation, LLC (“Origin”), a newly created entity owned by a group of former Affymetrix executives for the purpose of privatizing Affymetrix, Inc. (“Affymetrix”, NASDAQ: AFFX), today announced that, following discussions with the Affymetrix Board of Directors and its advisors, it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Affymetrix for $17.00 per share in cash.

“We are disappointed that Affymetrix has chosen not to pursue our compelling proposal despite our efforts to work in good faith toward a definitive agreement,” said Dr. Wei Zhou, President of Origin. “We disagree with Affymetrix’ assessment of the perceived risks of our proposal. It is an unfortunate outcome.”

Origin’s $17.00 per share all-cash offer for Affymetrix represented an 84.6% premium to Affymetrix’ unaffected closing share price of $9.21 on the last trading day prior to the announcement of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s (“Thermo”, NYSE: TMO) proposed acquisition of Affymetrix, and a 21.4% premium relative to Affymetrix’ proposed transaction with Thermo. Origin’s proposal was backed by a financing commitment from SummitView Capital, a highly respected global investor headquartered in China with offices in the United States, as well as Managing Directors with deep roots in the U.S.

As a counter to Origin’s proposal, Affymetrix required that Origin place hundreds of millions of dollars in a U.S. escrow account by Monday, March 28, 2016. This unrealistic demand was communicated to Origin during the evening of Friday, March 25, 2016, giving Origin only one business day to comply and transfer third party funds from an international firm into the U.S.

Dr. Zhou continued, “We appreciate the support we received from Affymetrix alumni, as well as the broader genomics community. The Origin management team was incredibly enthusiastic about our proposal and remains deeply moved by the number of former colleagues who sent supportive messages. We look forward to continuing to advance genomics through our work at Centrillion Technologies.”

About Origin

Origin Technologies Corporation, LLC is owned by a group of former Affymetrix executives, who share a passion and vision for advancing genomics for precision medicine and other critical applications. The entity was formed for the specific purpose of privatizing Affymetrix. Covington & Burling LLP is acting as legal advisor to Origin in connection with the proposed transaction. For more information, please visit http://origin.acquisitionproposal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160328005760/en/

Media and Investors:
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Megan Bouchier/David Isaacs, 415-618-8750
[email protected]

Source: Origin Technologies Corporation, LLC

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