Ampersand Capital Partners Strikes Two Deals
Ampersand Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, had a busy week, announcing two deals back to back. On September 21, the company revealed it acquired GeneWerk GmbH and American Laboratory Products Company, Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. Based in Heidelberg, Germany, GeneWerk GmbH is a cell and gene therapy testing laboratory focused on providing preclinical and clinical trial patient sample analysis services. The company is recognized as a leading provider of vector integration site analysis (ISA) services, a method that was developed by the company’s founders and that the FDA and European Medicines Agency recommend performing after the administration of both... Read More »
Kai Medical Labs Acquired by Empower Clinics to Ramp Up COVID Testing
Empower Clinics Inc., a vertically integrated health and wellness company, has jumped into the healthcare M&A market. Last week, the company acquired Kai Medical Laboratory, LLC for an undisclosed sum. Kai Medical Laboratory is a high-complexity CLIA- and COLA-accredited laboratory that provides reliable and accurate testing solutions to hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies, and employer groups. Kai Medical Laboratory is located in Dallas, Texas. The deal includes an 8,000-square-foot medical laboratory including a covered drive-up testing center with premium testing and laboratory equipment, cash and current assets all with a combined value in excess of $1.75 million. Kai Medical... Read More »
Sonde Health Buys NeurLex to Boost Voice Science Platform
Last week, Boston-based Sonde Health acquired NeuroLex Laboratories, Inc. to expand its voice-based technology platform. Sonde’s proprietary platform detects symptoms of health conditions, such as depression and respiratory disease, from changes in voice. Using machine learning, Sonde senses and analyzes subtle vocal changes due to changes in a person’s physiology to provide early health detection and monitoring. Sone Health has 300,000 voice samples from over 50,000 individuals. The data is especially useful in the fields of psychosis and related psychiatric treatment. NeuroLex Labs offers highly complementary services. It also uses speech analysis to detect various health... Read More »
QIAGEN Pushes On After Thermo Fisher Walks Away
In early March, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) announced a takeover QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN) for $11.5 billion, or $43.64 per share in cash. The offer seemed high enough, as the target company only generated revenues of $1.53 billion in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic complicated the deal. QIAGEN saw a surge in product demand used in COVID-19 testing, as net sales grew 16% in Q2:20 over the same quarter in 2019, so its shareholders thought Thermo Fisher’s needed to up its offer. Thermo Fisher revised its offer to $49 per share on August 4, but it needed a minimum acceptance threshold of 66.67% from QIAGEN shareholders before the August 10 deadline. The new acquisition... Read More »
Healthscope Divests Asia Pacific Healthcare Group
In an effort to refocus its business plan, Healthscope is selling Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG), its New Zealand pathology business. With 25 laboratories, over 2,000 staff, and 150 collection centers throughout the country, APHG performed over 6.7 million pathology patient episodes across New Zealand in 2019. The group has also been heavily involved in providing testing as part of New Zealand’s response to COVID-19. Healthscope is the second-largest private hospital operator in Australia The buyers are the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZ Super Fund), which invests money on behalf of the New Zealand government to help pay for the increased cost of universal pension entitlements... Read More »