Danaher Corp.'s $21.4 billion acquisition of General Electric Co.'s biopharmaceutical business has been approved by the European Commission after Danaher agreed to divest five of its businesses.

Washington, D.C.-based Danaher in February announced plans to buy the industrial giant's biopharma business, which is part of the GE Healthcare Inc. unit that provides equipment and software used in biopharmaceutical research and development.

Both companies manufacture products and services used in the bioprocessing industries including single-use technology products. The companies are also competitors in molecular characterization, microscopy, high-content screening and laboratory filtration.

In order to close the deal, Danaher has agreed to sell five of its businesses. The commission raised concerns that the deal would reduce competition and result in higher prices, less innovation and increase the risk of discontinuation of certain products.

Danaher will offload the MolDev FortéBio molecular characterization business, Pall Biotech SoloHill microcarriers and particle validation standards business, the Pall Biotech chromatography resins business, the Pall Biotech chromatography hardware business, and the Pall Biotech Single-Use Tangential Flow Filtration systems and stainless-steel Hollow-Fibre Tangential Flow Filtration systems business.

The final sale of the businesses is subject to the commission's approval.