EQT sells Igenomix in €1.25bn trade sale

Igenomix's shareholders, which include EQT and Charme Capital Partners (formerly Montezemolo & Partners), will hold a stake equivalent to 7% in Vitrolife following the deal, according to a statement.

Vitrolife had a market capitalisation of almost SEK 43bn (approximately €4.2bn) at the time of publication.

The deal is expected to complete in H2 2021; upon completion, Vesa Koskinen, a partner in EQT Private Equity's advisory team, is expected to join Vitrolife's board of directors.

The two companies will form a global reproductive health, diagnostics and genetic testing business, combining Vitrolife's IVF product expertise with Igenomix's diagnostics capabilities.

The acquisition is to be financed via a combination of issue in kind, a directed share issue, debt and cash, Vitrolife said in a statement. Vitrolife has now raised €350m from a directed share issue to fund the acquisition, with institutional investors including William Demant Invest, Bure Equity, Fjärde AP-Fonden and AMF subscribing to the issue.

EQT said in a statement that Igenomix experienced significant growth during the investment period, with the GP making investments to support the firm's product portfolio, research and development, and its international expansion, which included the establishment of a presence in countries such as China, Chile, Peru, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Igenomix had previously been tipped as an IPO candidate, with EQT reportedly considering a dual-track exit process for the company, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

Previous funding
Charme acquired a 75% stake in Igenomix in July 2016 via Charme III, which held a final close in January 2017 on €645m, surpassing its €500m target. At the same time, Amadeus Capital Partners and Aleph Capital acquired minority stakes in the company, with Amadeus taking a 15% stake. The business doubled its revenues from €30m in 2016 to around €60m in 2018, as reported.

EQT acquired a majority stake of 60% in Igenomix in March 2019 in a €400m deal. The valuation equated to 20x the company's 2018 EBITDA of €20m, as reported by Unquote. Charme retained a minority stake of 5-10% in the company, Unquote reported, while Amadeus fully exited its investment. The company's founder and management reinvested as part of the deal.

EQT backed Igenomix via EQT VIII and will take its stake in Vitrolife via the same fund. The vehicle held a final close in February 2018 on its €10.75bn hard-cap. The vehicle was 80% deployed as of July 2020, according to Unquote Data. Igenomix will be the fund's fourth partial exit and follows the €5bn IPO of Germany-based software platform Suse in May 2021. 

Company
Founded in 2011, Igenomix specialises in molecular genetic testing diagnostics for reproductive medicine such as IVF, as well as for rare diseases. Its product portfolio includes non-invasive pre-implantation genetic testing, as well as a newly launched Covid-19 test and a genetic precision diagnostics testing programme for rare diseases. The company is headquartered in Valencia and has 960 staff, with laboratories in 21 countries.

According to a statement, Igenomix expects to post revenues of €122m and EBITDA of €36m for the 12 months to June 2021, compared with revenues of €79m and adjusted EBITDA of €17m for the 12 months to June 2020.

The company's newly launched Covid-19 testing product contributed significantly to its turnover and EBITDA in the 12 months to June 2021. The company said in a statement that its revenues for the period would be €98m excluding this service, while its EBITDA would be €26m.

People
EQT Private Equity – Vesa Koskinen (partner); Carlos Santana (partner, head of EQT Private Equity Advisory in Spain).
Igenomix – David Jiménez (CEO); Carlos Simón (scientific director).
Vitrolife – Thomas Axelsson (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – Lazard (corporate finance); Cedric Law (legal); Dentons (legal); SEB (debt advisory).
Vendor – JP Morgan (corporate finance); Morgan Stanley (corporate finance); Allen & Overy (legal); White & Case (legal); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal, tax).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Southern Europe
• Healthcare
• Partial sale
• Spain
• EQT
• Montezemolo & Partners