AP Moller, Biogroup among final bidders for Waypoint's Affidea

The two parties are also joined by Belgian investment firm Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), one of the sources said. TPG and I Squared Capital also participated in the first round for the asset, the other source said.

Owner Waypoint Capital collected first-round bids for Affidea in the second week of March in an auction led by Jefferies and Goldman Sachs, as reported. Final round bids are expected in a couple of weeks, said one of the first two sources.

AP Moller, an investment house owned by the Maersk family, acquired Swiss diagnostics provider Unilabs in December 2021. AP Moller is “all over the asset”, said one of the sources.

Biogroup is placing a bid alongside a private equity sponsor as its debt structure does not allow it to bid alone, the same source explained.

GBL hired Michal Chalaczkiewicz in November 2021, who was at Montagu when it owned Affidea under its previous branding Euromedic, according to a third source familiar.

Affidea as an asset remains acquisitive with more than 30 assets under evaluation, CEO Giuseppe Recchi told Mergermarket earlier this year.

Deal flow in Europe’s diagnostics market
Europe’s diagnostic market has undergone rapid consolidation over the past five years with the market’s biggest players, including Synlab, Unilabs, Biogroup and Cerba, built upon significant M&A from a mix of single laboratory practices and regional groups.

Affidea is more geared towards radiology and outpatient care than its bigger peers, with all of the above groups more focused on laboratory testing. The business has operations in 15 countries from the UK & Ireland, to Greece and Turkey.

If AP Moller were to merge Affidea with Unilabs, the resulting group could generate at least EUR 2.5bn revenue and EUR 700m EBITDA. Unilabs recorded sales of EUR 2bn and EBITDA of EUR 600m in the year to September 2021, as reported, while Affidea recorded EUR 431m in sales in 2020 and EBITDA of EUR 85m, according to a Moody’s report.

French laboratory group Biogroup has also been highly acquisitive, with Spain’s Cerba Internacional and Belgian’s CMA Medina as its punts outside of its home market. The group has pro-forma revenues of EUR 1.5bn, according to a Moody's report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has massively accelerated profitability for these laboratory companies. For example, Biogroup saw its EBITDA grow 374% in the year to June 2021 thanks to a tailwind from testing, according to the same report.

“It’s hard for investors to get comfortable with what is COVID and what isn’t,” one of the sources said.

AP Moller, Biogroup and I Squared Capital did not respond to a request for comment. GBL and TPG declined to comment.

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