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Port Washington-based Pall Corp. has agreed to be acquired by...

Port Washington-based Pall Corp. has agreed to be acquired by Danaher Corp. in a $13.8 billion deal, the companies announced Wednesday morning, May 13, 2015. Credit: Barry Sloan

Port Washington-based Pall Corp. has agreed to be acquired by Danaher Corp. in a $13.8 billion deal, the companies announced Wednesday morning.

Pall, a filtration and purification company, saw its stock bid up after news of an impending deal went public earlier this week. On Wednesday, Pall shares closed up 4.44 percent to $123.89, making it Long Island's largest company by stock market capitalization, at $12.65 billion.

The transaction would remove another iconic name from Long Island's roster of public companies. Marquee companies that have been acquired or left the region include aerospace titan Grumman Corp., which was bought by Northrop for $2.1 billion in 1994;) bar code pioneer Symbol Technologies, bought by Motorola for $3.9 billion in 2007; and Arrow Electronics, which moved its headquarters to Colorado in 2011.

Long Island's shrinking stable of public companies follows a national trend. Listings on the Nasdaq Stock Market and New York Stock Exchange declined to 4,356 domestic companies on March 31 from 6,531 on March 31, 2003, according to the World Federation of Exchanges.

The size of the Pall deal also eclipses all of Long Island's 2014 deals, the largest of which, the sale of Hauppauge credit card processor TransFirst Inc., was reported at $1.5 billion.

The impact of the acquisition on Pall's employees on Long Island and worldwide was unclear. The company had about 700 employees on Long Island as of 2012. Overall, Pall reported having 10,400 employees on July 31, 2014.

Pall was founded in 1946 in a garage in Forest Hills by inventor David B. Pall. He was the named inventor on 181 U.S. patents and died at age 90 in 2004.

The company moved from Queens to East Hills, and then to a 276,000-square-foot headquarters in Port Washington in 2009.

Pall's share sale price of $127.20 represents a 28 percent premium over Pall's closing price of $99.31 on Monday, when The Wall Street Journal published a story after the market close about a possible deal.

Pall will operate as a subsidiary of Danaher, based in Washington, D.C., and will maintain its brand, the companies said. Danaher's shares climbed 1.6 percent to close at $87.35 Wednesday.

"This transaction delivers substantial value to our shareholders and creates an incredible opportunity for long-term growth that will benefit all of our stakeholders," Pall chairman and CEO Larry Kingsley said in a statement.

The transaction, subject to approval by regulators and Pall shareholders, is expected to close by year-end.

Danaher also announced yesterday a plan to split into two publicly traded companies: one focused on science and technology that will retain the Danaher name and a second industrial company.

In a letter to Pall employees, management said that the company "in its entirety" would become part of the new Danaher science and technology company that will generate $16.5 billion in combined revenue.

Bloomberg News, citing company filings, reported that Kingsley would get paid about $70.6 million if terminated after the deal is closed.

On this episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Newsday's Gregg Sarra, Ben Dickson and Michael Sicoli recap the state championships including baseball and lacrosse.  Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas; Varsity Media, Luke Griffin

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