SYNLAB AG commences trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

SYNLAB AG (“SYNLAB” or “the Group”), the largest European clinical laboratory and medical diagnostic services company, completed its successful listing on the Regulated Market (Prime Standard) of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (“FSE”) on 30 April 2021. In total, 42.9 million shares were placed as part of the initial public offering. The total offer volume reached EUR 772 million with an expected free float of 19%, assuming full exercise of the Greenshoe option. At the IPO price of €18.00 per share, the implied market capitalisation was €4.0 billion, and the implied enterprise value amounted to €5.9 billion. The stock trades under the trading symbol SYAB, the German securities code (WKN) A2TSL7, and the international securities identification number (ISIN) DE000A2TSL71.

In 2015, funds advised by Cinven acquired the Germany-based SYNLAB and French medical diagnostics provider Labco at a combined enterprise value of €2.9 billion. Following the successful merger of the two companies under the joint SYNLAB brand, Cinven and co-investors Novo Holdings and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (together “the sponsors”) supported the company on its organic and M&A-driven growth strategy. Under the leadership of Dr. Bartl Wimmer, founder of SYNLAB, and since 2018 of CEO Mathieu Floreani, SYNLAB consistently focused on a strategy of customer-centric medical excellence to drive organic growth. In a fragmented medical diagnostics market, the Group executed on more than 100 add-on transactions and expanded its presence to an additional eight countries, including market entries in Latin America and Africa. Today, the Group is active in 36 countries globally and the only player with a presence in the five largest European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, UK). Over the past year, its scale and flexibility enabled SYNLAB to quickly ramp up SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity across its markets and contribute to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as a key part of the medical infrastructure.

SYNLAB grew its revenues to €2.6 billion in fiscal year 2020. EBITDA increased to €679 million in the same period. In addition to its considerable business success and value creation, SYNLAB also expanded its workforce to more than 20,000 employees in 2020. The Group processes more 500 million tests and assists more than 100 million patients per annum.

Commenting on the IPO, Alex Leslie, Partner of Cinven said:

“Our original investment thesis in 2015 was based on the unique opportunity to create a European leader by combining two strong platforms with an excellent regional fit. Together with our co-shareholders, we supported the transition from a great business led by founder Bartl Wimmer to an enterprise led by a new management team under the leadership of Mathieu Floreani. Mathieu and his team built on the strong strategic position of SYNLAB and further accelerated the international expansion across markets in Europe and Latin America. We fully endorsed the strategy of customer-centric medical excellence, and we are proud that SYNLAB has played an important role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year. SYNLAB is in an excellent position to deliver on its future growth strategy and will continue to fulfil its mission of providing actionable diagnostic information for healthy lives and well-being for all.”

Christian Salling, Senior Partner at Novo Holdings, commented:

“SYNLAB has been on an impressive journey during our ownership, and management has done an outstanding job of creating a leading, international diagnostics services provider. Furthermore, SYNLAB has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 since the beginning of the outbreak and quickly stepped up to face this considerable challenge. We at Novo Holdings are very proud to be part of that journey. SYNLAB is an excellent example of our strategy of investing in quality companies with strong management teams and demonstrates the strength of our engaged ownership model, that we exercised together with leading investment partners. We are very pleased with the company’s accomplishments to date and congratulate the team on this important milestone.”

Nick Jansa, Senior Managing Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Ontario Teachers’ added:

“We are delighted to see SYNLAB successfully transition to the public markets under the stewardship of Cinven, Novo and Ontario Teachers’. The business has been transformed under our ownership because of numerous strategic acquisitions and other value creation initiatives. We are proud to have backed SYNLAB, which has achieved significant growth while making a vital contribution to public health efforts across the globe.”