SPECIALTY LABORATORIES ACQUIRED FIRM'S VALENCIA OPERATIONS TO CONTINUE AFTER AGREEMENT.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

VALENCIA - Specialty Laboratories, Inc., a diagnostics firm that relocated last year to Valencia then waded through a management upheaval, was acquired by a Florida pathology company.

AmeriPath, Inc., of Palm Beach Gardens will acquire all outstanding common shares of Specialty for $13.25 per share. As part of the transaction, a portion of shares owned by Specialty Family LP, the majority shareholder, and related parties will be exchanged for about 20 percent of the combined company, which will be privately held.

The deal - worth roughly $314.7 million - was approved unanimously by Specialty Lab's board of directors.

``We are pleased to announce this combination with AmeriPath because of the significant benefits to each of our constituents: shareholders, customers and employees,'' Specialty chairman Richard K. Whitney said in a statement.

``Our shareholders will receive compelling value and liquidity. Our customers will benefit from an expanded breadth of services and the efficiencies from testing facilities on both coasts. Our employees will enjoy the greater advancement opportunities and security associated with a larger, well-financed organization with a significantly improved competitive position.''

Don Steen, chairman and CEO of AmeriPath, said the companies will complement one another.

``The merger offers the opportunity to build on both companies' leadership positions, provides us access to each other's medical and scientific expertise, expands our geographic presence and allows our companies to better support community-based medicine for enhanced patient care,'' Steen said in a statement.

Chairman of the board Richard E. Belluzzo resigned in February; Douglas S. Harrington resigned in March as chief executive officer.

Specialty will continue operating at the Valencia Corporate Center, overlooking the Valencia Country Club golf course. The company completed its relocation there from Santa Monica last year.

``We intend to maintain the companies' existing laboratories on both coasts to enhance client service and avoid the disruptions for clients that typically result from relocations. We believe this combination represents a rare opportunity to leverage the strengths of both companies while enhancing their special identities,'' Steen said.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2006.

Specialty Laboratories performs highly advanced clinical tests used by physicians to diagnose, monitor and treat disease.

AmeriPath is a leading national provider of physician-based anatomic pathology, dermatopathology and molecular diagnostic services to physicians, hospitals, national clinical laboratories and surgery centers.