Mimir Group ramps up global origination effort with London office and focus on life science carve-outs

Min Ho
26 May 2023

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Carve-out specialist Mimir Group has recently opened its London office in a bid to ramp up its origination effort, including a push to target sectors including life sciences, group Chairman and Managing Partner Joakim NotУЖ said.

The Sweden-based perpetual investment company has so far placed one team member in London running its business development and deal origination, with the expectation of further London-based hires to oversee its deal origination and deal execution over the next few years, he said. Pierre Chapuis joined the London office from investment research group BCA Research and now helps run the firm's global business development, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"We want more deal flow as it can always be better," he said. "London is where a lot happens in banking and M&A."

Deals that Mimir is particularly keen on include life science groups, namely subsectors including veterinary drugs, specialty chemicals, diagnostics, generic drugs, software and services, and non R&D-heavy pharmaceuticals companies, he said.

"People typically think of the sector as high growth with high multiples, but they also tend to forget that there are mature areas in both life sciences and technology where you have businesses that are perhaps GDP-growth type companies which are non-core to an owner," he said.

Notö acknowledges that life sciences is quite "unusual for someone like us", but points to its team, which has a strong experience in the sector. This includes operations head and managing partner Jeff Bork, who has experience in running healthcare companies, according to the firm's website.

Searching for deals
Outside life science, it will also continue its search for engineering, defence, technology, manufacturing, business services, forestry-related products and distribution targets, he said. It has a global mandate to search for deals, including Germany, the UK and the Nordics, as well as the US, he added.

Mimir can deploy up to EUR 100m in equity in any deals that it makes through the perpetual investment company it has been running since last year. He declined to comment on the size of its balance sheet.

Backers for the new investment company include some of its former fund investors and new investors, he said. These include global institutions and private individuals, as well as large private companies from North America and Europe, he said.

Mimir Group was founded in 2016 after raising its first fund targeting special situations with the backing of three institutional investors, including Stockholm listed fund-of-funds Naxs [STO:NAXS], and more than half a dozen high net worth individuals, including a life sciences investor, as previously reported. The firm did not disclose the size of the vehicle.

Since its foundation, Mimir has acquired more than 15 companies, most of which were carved out from large corporations across industries in Europe and North America.

Carve-out considerations
In spite of the volatile markets, dealflow for carve-outs remains "more or less the same" to that of a good economy, he said.

"If you have a very good economy, there will be a lot of focus on carve-outs of underperformers because sellers want to focus their strategy where there is a lot of growth. Likewise, if you're in a poorly performing economy, some corporates may look at their underperformers to focus their strategy and focus on their core strengths," he said.

The macroeconomic outlook is also raising questions of "whether it's a good time or not" to sell some of its businesses, even though there are some potential divestment candidates in its portfolio, he said.

"We are a perpetual investment company. We could sell some businesses or we could hold them – it doesn't really matter to us," he said.

Mimir has a traditional three- to-seven year holding period for its companies, as previously reported.