Afinum, SHS sell Evitria to trade

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in April 2021 that William Blair had been mandated to run the sale process for Evitria.

The sale was in its second round by June 2021. The company was expected to be valued at around EUR 200m, or at least 20x its EBITDA. The company posts revenues in the EUR 15m-20m region and EBITDA of EUR 10m-15m, sources told Mergermarket.

Afinum and SHS acquired Evitria in December 2018. Luzerner Kantonalbank provided debt to back the deal, according to Unquote Data.

During the investment period, CEO Christian Eberle joined the company's management as part of Evitria's succession solution. The firm also expanded its product offering from therapeutic antibodies to diagnostic antibodies. In addition, Evitria developed its sales structure, technology platform and its production capacities.

Afinum invested via its eighth flagship fund, which held a final close in September 2017 on EUR 410m. The exit is the second exit from the fund in 2021, following the sale of Perfect Drive Sports Group to Bregal Unternehmerkapital in March 2021.

Afinum is currently on the road for its ninth flagship fund, which has a target in the EUR 450m-500m region and expects to hold a first close in Q1 2021, as reported.

SHS invested in Evitria via SHS V Fonds, which held a final close in July 2019 on EUR 130m. Sascha Alilovic, managing partner for SHS, told Unquote that the exit has brought distributions to paid-in capital (DPI) on its 2018-vintage SHS V to significantly more than 1x. The deal is the second exit from SHS V, following the sale of pharmaceutical logistics business Single Use Support to US-based Pall in December 2020; the deal generated a money multiple of more than 7x for SHS.

Company
Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Schlieren, Evitria provides antibody expression services, specialising in transient recombinant antibody expression in CHO cells. The company's clients include academic laboratories and small biotechnology startups.

People
SHS Capital – Cornelius Maas (senior investment manager); Sascha Alilovic (managing partner).
Afinum – Thomas Bühler, Gernot Eisinger (managing partners).
Evitria – Christian Eberle (CEO).
Atlas Antibodies – Torben Jørgensen (chair).

Advisers
Vendor – William Blair (M&A); Vischer (legal).

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