Cinven and Astorg To Acquire LGC

A consortium jointly led by Astorg and Cinven has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire LGC, a company in the life sciences tools sector.

LGC provides a comprehensive range of measurement tools, proficiency testing schemes, supply chain assurance standards and specialty genomics reagents underpinned by leading analytical and measurement science capabilities. Its scientific tools and solutions form an essential part of its customers’ quality assurance procedures and enable organizations to develop and commercialize new scientific products and advance research. The company serves customers across a number of end markets, including human healthcare, agri-food and the environment.

Established in 1842, today LGC employs more than 3,200 people, including many internationally-recognized scientific experts in their field. LGC is headquartered in the UK and serves almost 50,000 laboratories worldwide from its global office network spanning 22 countries across five continents.

Astorg and Cinven identified LGC as an attractive investment opportunity given its:

• Leading positions in the healthcare, food and agriculture markets, underpinned by its long-standing reputation for scientific expertise and high quality products;
• Strong performance and organic growth aided by investment in people, key capabilities, scientific R&D and infrastructure across the world;
• Several recent highly complementary acquisitions and significant future development opportunities, given the fragmented nature of its markets and the opportunity to extend its capabilities into complementary areas;
• High calibre management team, with Cinven and Astorg backing a highly experienced senior management team, led by Tim Robinson, CEO.

Supraj Rajagopalan, Partner at Cinven, said:

“Cinven’s investment in LGC was identified as a result of the Healthcare Sector team’s focus on the life sciences space. LGC is exposed to a wide range of diversified and fast growing end markets across the Standards and Genomics sectors and we look forward to working with the highly experienced management team to continue investing in strengthening and broadening LGC’s global footprint and portfolio of leading, high quality products.”

Francois de Mitry, Managing Partner at Astorg, added:

“We have been actively monitoring developments in the Life Sciences Tools market, with a particular focus on LGC, for over five years, and have been very impressed by LGC’s scientific capabilities and the resulting continuous organic growth. LGC represents a strong fit with Astorg’s strategy of investing in differentiated leading global B2B players headquartered in Western Europe and North America. Based on our sector work, we have already identified promising future M&A opportunities to actively work on the M&A-led growth in close cooperation with management.”

Tim Robinson, Chief Executive of LGC, commented:

“We are delighted that Astorg and Cinven have chosen to partner with LGC for the next chapter of our history. Cinven and Astorg have a strong track record of investing in and supporting the growth of global companies in the Life Sciences Tools sector. Together we will continue to invest in serving our customers and supporting the development of our employees. In the past few years, LGC has strengthened its international reach and grown significantly in its chosen markets. Astorg, Cinven and LGC’s senior management are aligned in building on this momentum with a clear strategy for growth, delivering Science for a Safer World.”

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, with completion of the transaction subject to regulatory approval and other customary clearances.