Cinven acquires BC Partners' Synlab to merge it with Labco

The transaction gives Synlab an enterprise value of €1.8bn, providing BC Partners with a 2.7x return, unquote" understands.

Upon completion of the deal, Cinven will look to merge the business with French medical diagnostics laboratory Labco, which it acquired from 3i in a €1.2bn deal in May. At the time of the Labco deal, the GP stated it was looking to consolidate the "highly fragmented" European diagnostics laboratory market.

Under BC Partners' tenure, Synlab has undertaken an aggressive buy-and-build strategy, making a total of 60 acquisitions. The GP stated Synlab has grown by 25% per annum since 2010 and has expanded geographically into six new markets.

The deal marks the 13th investment from Cinven's €5.3bn fifth fund, which held a final close in June 2013.

Previous funding
BC Partners first invested in Synlab in 2009, when it acquired a 40% stake. The GP then took a majority stake through Synlab's merger with Vienna-based FutureLab, a BC Partners portfolio company.

Company
Headquartered in Augsburg and founded in 1998, Synlab provides laboratory analysis for human and veterinary medicine. The business operates 300 laboratories in 25 countries and has a headcount of around 7,000, of which 4,500 are based in Germany. It generated a turnover of €756m in 2014.

People
Ewald Walgenbach is managing partner at BC Partners. Stuart McAlpine is a partner and Alex Leslie is a senior principal at Cinven. Bartl Wimmer is founder and CEO of Synlab.

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• Unq2015July