Cinven has made an indicative offer to take Synlab AG private in a roughly €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) deal, just two years after listing the German laboratory operator that’s now battling with reduced demand for its testing facilities.
(Bloomberg) — Cinven has made an indicative offer to take Synlab AG private in a roughly €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) deal, just two years after listing the German laboratory operator that’s now battling with reduced demand for its testing facilities.
The UK buyout firm has submitted a non-binding expression of interest to acquire Frankfurt-listed Synlab at €10 a share, according to a statement on Monday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.
Synlab said it was examining the proposal and that there’s no certainty Cinven, which already owns 43% of the company, would proceed with an acquisition. Shares in Synlab rose as much as 31% on Monday. The stock was up 30% at 12:26 p.m. in Frankfurt, giving the company a market value of €2 billion.
A take-private of Synlab would make it easier for Cinven to transform the Munich-based company as it grapples with a post-pandemic decline in demand for testing facilities.
Cinven launched an initial public offering of Synlab in 2021, buoyed by a Covid-19 testing boom that sent the company’s valuation soaring to almost €5.5 billion in November of that year. But the stock has dropped almost 70% since that high, exacerbated by a recent profit warning.
Synlab’s main competitors include Unilabs, a European diagnostics company that was taken over by AP Moller Holding A/S in 2022. Synlab’s other investors include Denmark’s Novo Holdings A/S and Canadian retirement scheme Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.
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