FRANCE - Industri Kapital acquires French laboratories in tertiary buyout

Julien
19 June 2006

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Industri Kapital has acquired a majority stake of Group Cerba from Astorg Partners for about EUR 160m. To secure this buyout, the European private equity firm defeated APAX Partners, 3i and PPM Capital in a competitive auction. The deal should be completed mid-July.

The debt package was underwritten by Natexis Banque Populaire.

Established in 1967, Group Cerba carries out varied medical analyses on behalf of laboratories and hospitals. Test fields include infectious diseases, virology, autoimmune disease, allergy, endocrinology, oncology, toxicology, molecular genomics and cytology. The company is the French leader in this field, with a 40% market share and a 2005 turnover of about EUR 100m. Christopher Masek of Industri Kapital said that the development strategy was very simply to make acquisitions in neighbouring countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium). The company is based in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumone and employs 500 highly qualified staff.

In 2002, Astorg Partners had coordinated the buyout of Laboratoire Pasteur Cerba via its investment vehicle Astorg II and in association with the laboratory’s management and biologists. The deal value was estimated to be close to EUR 75m.