PE Corp. changes name to Applera Corp.

Second name change in less than three years

What's in a name? A lot, or not much, depending on your point of view. As of Thursday, November 30, PE Corp.—the successor of a company known for years to life science professionals as Perkin-Elmer—will become Applera Corp. The new name is a combination of the names of the company's two operating businesses, the Applied Biosystems Group and the Celera Genomics Group.

PE Biosystems' name change to Applied Biosystems will also become effective on November 30, and its stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) will change from PEB to ABI at the opening of trading on that date. The NYSE symbol for the Celera Genomics Group will remain CRA. Applera Corp. will change its web address from www.pecorporation.com to www.applera.com effective November 30. Got it?

Name changes and labyrinthine corporate affiliations always make my head spin, but this one makes sense. Removing all vestiges of "Perkin-Elmer" and associated abbreviations from its name clarifies PE/Applera's new mission and new business. In case you didn't know or have forgotten, PE sold its instrument division, along with the Perkin-Elmer name, in 1999.

"[The new] name symbolizes our company's evolution as a life sciences company with a mission to improve the human condition," said Tony L. White, chairman, president, and CEO of Applera. "The new name reflects the complementary role of our business groups in providing tools and information to academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical researchers. I am especially pleased by the brand recognition achieved by Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics. Customers have identified these names with high quality DNA and protein analysis systems and information to drive discovery."

History
In 1993, Perkin-Elmer merged with Applied Biosystems Inc., which was founded in Foster City, California in 1981. In 1998, Perkin-Elmer consolidated its premier life science technologies into the PE Biosystems division, consisting of Applied Biosystems, PerSeptive Biosystems, Tropix, and PE Informatics. The company had acquired PerSeptive Biosystems, a company focused on the analysis of proteins, in 1998 and Tropix Inc., a chemiluminescence company, in 1996. Informatics was formed by combining two acquired entities, Molecular Informatics and Nelson Analytical Systems, with existing units of Perkin-Elmer.

In 1999, in order to focus its mission on the life sciences, the company was recapitalized under the name PE Corp. As part of the recapitalization, the company established two new classes of common stock that track the Applied Biosystems Group and the Celera Genomics Group.

PE Corp. comprises two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group develops and markets instrument-based systems, reagents, software, and contract services to the life science industry and research community. Customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), small molecules and proteins in order to make scientific discoveries, develop new pharmaceuticals, and conduct standardized testing. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City and reported sales of $1.4 billion during fiscal 2000. The Celera Genomics Group, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, intends to become the definitive source of genomic and related medical information.

Edited by Angelo DePalma
Managing Editor, Drug Discovery Online and Pharmaceutical Online
adepalma@vertical.net