Axcel explores dual-track process for Aidian

Auri Aittokallio and Kasper Viio
13 October 2021

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Axcel is exploring exit options for portfolio company Aidian, a Finnish diagnostics business, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

Rothschild and Carnegie have been mandated as sale and IPO advisers, respectively, the sources said.

Teasers have been sent to potential buyers in recent weeks, with the sale track being tested first, two of the sources said. Prep work for the potential Helsinki listing is ongoing in the background, they added.

Aidian expects to turn over EUR 90m in 2021, with EUR 20m in EBITDA, one of the sources said. The company recorded EUR 50.4m in revenues for 2020, down from EUR 54.4m the previous year. It has made acquisitions, which will contribute to the expected significant revenue increase this year, the source said.

Given Aidian's potential to expand its geographical footprint and grow with new product development, both private equity and trade buyers have shown early interest in the asset, one of the sources said. However, current high stock market valuations could prove too steep a competition to many buyers, a private equity executive following the situation said. Yet, the equity capital markets have been somewhat shaky more recently, one of the sources noted.

According to one of the sources, Aidian is a market leader within point-of-care diagnostics, with its own sales teams in 12 countries across Europe and in China. It also boasts an attractive molecular diagnostics technology called SIBA. Point-of-care diagnostics is a strongly growing field in the diagnostics space, this source added.

The company also sells through distributors in more than 60 countries worldwide and has 330 employees. It is headquartered in Espoo and has branch offices in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and China.

Axcel acquired the business in 2018 as a carve-out from Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion for a fixed purchase price of approximately EUR 163m, in addition to which Orion has a possibility to receive a variable component of EUR 60m maximum based on the return on investment for Axcel at the time of its exit.

Axcel declined to comment. Aidian, Carnegie and Rothschild did not respond to requests for comment.