A deal for Becton Dickinson’s biosciences and diagnostic solutions unit puts Waters Corp. in a greater position to compete with larger life-science companies, but integration risks can’t be discounted,

Lab equipment maker Waters Corp on Monday said it will buy a bioscience and diagnostics unit spun off from medtech provider Becton Dickinson in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $17.5 billion, expanding its scale in clinical and diagnostic applications.

Life sciences firm Waters will take on $4 billion in debt, and issue 39.2% of its shares to Becton Dickinson shareholders.