Abbott Laboratories to buy Alere for $4.4 bln - FT

April 14 (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories agreed to buy diagnostic-testing company Alere Inc for $4.4 billion, ending a prolonged legal battle over Abbott's plan to buy the company, the Financial Times reported, citing people close to the matter.

Abbott will pay $51 per share, a premium of 21 percent to Alere's closing price on Thursday, but below the earlier $56-per-share price announced in February last year, the FT said. http://on.ft.com/2nLyoDG

Abbott had raised concerns about the accuracy of various representations, warranties and covenants made by Alere in last year's $5.8 billion merger agreement, and offered to pay $30 million to $50 million to terminate the deal.

Abbott Laboratories had moved to terminate its proposed acquisition of Alere, citing a "substantial loss" in the value of the diagnostics company since they struck a deal in February 2016.

European Union antitrust regulators cleared Abbott Laboratories' proposed acquisition of Alere on January, subject to the divestment of some of Alere's operations.

Alere sued Abbott in August last year in an attempt to force the company to move ahead with the deal.

Abbott and Alere were not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours.

(Reporting by Rama Venkat Raman in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)