EQT's $10.8B QIAGEN Takeover Ends Years of Deal Rumors

Swedish private-equity firm EQT will buy Dutch molecular testing company QIAGEN for about €9.6 billion (roughly ten point eight billion dollars), the companies announced on Wednesday. The all-cash QIAGEN takeover ends years of deal speculation around the diagnostics maker and reflects the growing appetite of buyout firms for healthcare and laboratory assets.

Under the agreement, a bidding vehicle called Crown NL Bidco B.V., indirectly controlled by EQT's EQT XI fund, will make a voluntary all-cash public offer of €46.50 per share for every outstanding QIAGEN share, according to a joint statement from the companies. At the exchange rate cited on Wednesday, that price works out to about $52.22 a share. The price is an 8.6% premium to QIAGEN's last close and a 40.3% premium to the unaffected share price, the companies said. Joining EQT in the bid are Luxinva S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and CPP Investment Board Europe Inc., an arm of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

QIAGEN's supervisory and managing boards fully support the transaction and unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer. Stephen Rusckowski, chairman of the supervisory board, called going private the "best path forward for Qiagen, its shareholders and other stakeholders." The deal, which values QIAGEN at about $12.1 billion including roughly $1.1 billion in net debt, is expected to close in mid-2027. The announcement was dated October 21 and issued from Venlo and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Completion depends on a minimum acceptance of 50% of the outstanding share capital plus one share and on customary regulatory clearances. EQT has secured equity and debt financing to fund the offer, Reuters reported.

Years of rumors, one failed deal

QIAGEN has been a takeover target since October 2019, when longtime chief executive Peer Schatz announced his departure, according to Reuters. A year later, Thermo Fisher Scientific agreed to buy the company in a deal valued at about eleven point five billion dollars, but abandoned the takeover after failing to secure enough shareholder support. Surging demand for QIAGEN's coronavirus testing products during the pandemic then lifted the company's performance and share price, leading some investors to view the Thermo Fisher offer as too low.

The stock sank to more than six-year lows in May, then climbed about 10% this year as reports of private-equity interest, including from EQT, circulated. QIAGEN's US-listed shares rose 0.7% in extended trading after Wednesday's announcement. The company also suspended its full-year 2026 outlook while the deal is pending and reported preliminary third-quarter net sales of $548 million with adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.65.

Why diagnostics keep attracting buyers

QIAGEN, listed in New York as QGEN and in Frankfurt as QIA, provides the technologies and services that research and clinical laboratories use to analyze genetic material. Reuters reported that the agreement reflects increasing private-equity appetite in the sector, where demand for molecular testing technologies has driven dealmaking. EQT itself is managed and controlled by affiliates of EQT AB, the Stockholm-based buyout group.

The companies said QIAGEN will be "better positioned to deliver on its full potential in a private setting," while shareholders get "an attractive all-cash premium and certain value." The announcement followed what the companies described as a comprehensive review of strategic options that included discussions with both strategic and financial parties. Crown NL Bidco B.V. is a holding company set up specifically to make the offer.

The timing fits a busy stretch for corporate dealmaking. Salesforce confirmed a $5.66 billion acquisition of marketing-software company Braze earlier this week, while investors also parsed Spotify's third-quarter results as earnings season continued.

The bid brings patient capital alongside EQT. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is a sovereign wealth fund, and the Canada Pension Plan's investment arm manages retirement money for Canadian workers, giving the offer backers with long investment horizons. What comes next is procedural but not certain: shareholders must tender enough stock to clear the acceptance threshold, and regulators must clear the transaction before the expected mid-2027 close.