Novo Holdings A/S, a leading global life sciences investor, today announced it has agreed to acquire BBI Group (“BBI”), a leading supplier of products and services to the global diagnostics and life sciences industries, from Exponent for an enterprise value of over GBP 400 million.

Novo Holdings will be the majority shareholder of the company.

Founded in 1986, BBI provides critical reagents and immunoassay development, lateral flow development, diagnostic manufacturing services, and smartphone reader technologies to a global blue-chip customer base that includes Thermo-Fisher, Merck and Siemens. The company’s market-leading brand, BBI Solutions, provides a range of products, including antibodies, antigens, labels, complementary reagents and point of care tests.

BBI is headquartered in South Wales and employs over 400 employees across its sites in seven countries and four continents.

“We are proud to be the next owners of BBI. Diagnostics is a very attractive space which, with an enhanced global focus on preventative medicine, will play an increasingly important part in improving health outcomes for patients around the world.  We see tremendous opportunities for both organic and inorganic growth for the company. Novo Holdings is looking forward to contributing its considerable industry expertise and extensive network in supporting the talented team at BBI,” said Johan Hueffer, Senior Partner at Novo Holdings.

Mario Gualano, Group CEO of BBI, said: “We are delighted to be working with Novo Holdings, a team with a strong track record and a shared vision for growth and innovation. In the last five years, we have grown revenues and profitability considerably through investing in our products and services, people, and world-class infrastructure. We now have a fully invested and scalable platform to deliver future growth in a large and fast-growing market.”

Headquartered in Copenhagen, with a presence in San Francisco, Boston, London and Singapore, Novo Holdings is a world-leading life science investor with a focus on creating long-term value. The company has a portfolio of more than 120 life science companies and total assets of EUR 61 billion at the end of 2020. The company is fully owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world’s largest foundations. Through its investments, Novo Holdings aims to make a growing and positive impact on health, science and society by generating attractive long-term returns on the assets of the Foundation. Since 2010, the Foundation has donated more than DKK 30 billion (€4 billion) for projects to improve the lives of people and the sustainability of society.

Novo Holdings’ investment in BBI is part of its Principal Investments strategy targeting investments in well-established life science companies with leading positions in attractive market segments and strong underlying growth drivers.

In addition to capital and engagement, Novo Holdings provides access to an extensive network within the life science industry and uses its experience and expertise to actively support management in realizing its strategic ambitions.

Lazard served as financial advisor to Novo Holdings. Kromann Reumert, Latham & Watkins, and Linklaters served as legal advisors.

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

About BBI
BBI is a leading supplier of products and services to the global diagnostics and life sciences industries. The business has manufacturing sites spanning four continents and is headquartered in Crumlin, Wales. The Group’s brand, BBI Solutions, has served the global diagnostics industry for over 30 years, offering lateral flow development and manufacturing services with a core focus on antibody development, gold conjugation, lateral flow test manufacture and mobile diagnostic solutions with Novarum™ technology.