Upon closing of the transaction, ELITech is expected to be a stand-alone business within Bruker’s microbiology and infection diagnostics business, as a part of the Bruker CALID Group
Bruker to acquire diagnostics company ELITechGroup. (Credit: Louis Reed on Unsplash)
US-based medical instruments developer Bruker has agreed to acquire in-vitro diagnostics company ELITechGroup for €870m in cash.
Bruker has signed a definitive share purchase agreement with TecFin, a controlled affiliate of private equity firm PAI Partners, for the proposed acquisition.
The definitive agreement follows an option agreement signed in December last year, pending workers’ council consultations in France and The Netherlands.
The transaction is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.
It is also subject to the spin-out of Bruker’s clinical chemistry business, ELITech clinical chemistry, into a separate entity.
Upon closing, ELITech is expected to be a stand-alone business within Bruker’s microbiology and infection diagnostics business, as a part of the Bruker CALID Group.
Bruker intends to fund the transaction using available cash and debt financing.
Bruker microbiology and infection diagnostics division president Wolfgang Pusch said: “The ELITech MDx business will give Bruker access to modern sample-to-answer (S2A) systems and a broad infectious disease assay portfolio, including viral testing.
“ELITech’s breadth of testing menu, ease of use, and fast time-to-result complements Bruker’s novel LiquidArray syndromic panels, speciality fungal infection, tuberculosis, mycobacteria and HIV MDx portfolio.
“The ELITech esoteric molecular diagnostics portfolio is nicely complementary to our MALDI Biotyper microbial identification platform in infectious disease diagnostics, and both together establish Bruker as an innovative and growing ’Tier 2’ infectious disease specialist in the in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market.”
ELITechGroup develops and commercialises advanced, in-house, molecular diagnostic (MDx) systems and assays, along with biomedical systems and microbiology products.
Its molecular diagnostic business provides sample-to-answer (S2A) instruments InGenius and BeGenius in the mid-to-high throughput MDx category.
Both offer a wide range of PCR diagnostic assays for infections that are transplant-incurred, sexually transmitted, respiratory, gastrointestinal, blood-borne, and hospital-acquired, among others.
Currently, more than 1,000 InGenius and BeGenius systems have been installed in Europe and Latin America, primarily in mid-sized hospitals and clinical laboratories.
Furthermore, the company’s biomedical and microbiology businesses include automated slide stainers, cystic fibrosis sweat tests, osmometers and select microbiology assays.
ELITechGroup CEO Christoph Gauer said: “ELITechGroup is the company that it is today thanks to our teams’ hard work and drive for innovation and our partnership with PAI.
“Establishing this unique business within Bruker – a well-respected global life-science tools and speciality diagnostics company – provides an exciting opportunity to further grow our molecular diagnostics, microbiology and biomedical systems portfolios.
“We expect to capitalise on infectious disease portfolio and commercial synergies for opportunities to further expand our portfolio, utilising R&D innovations and global customer support within Bruker.”