EQT agrees to take Qiagen private in €46.50-a-share cash offer, Qiagen says

As of 8:24 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026

An investment vehicle controlled by a fund of investment firm EQT has agreed to take Qiagen private through an all-cash takeover offer of €46.50 per share, the Dutch molecular testing company said Wednesday.

Qiagen, whose shares trade in Frankfurt and New York, said the offer will be made by Crown NL Bidco B.V., a holding company indirectly controlled by the EQT XI fund. Luxinva S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and CPP Investment Board Europe Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, hold further indirect stakes as co-investors, the company said.

The offer

Qiagen said the €46.50 price is a 40.3% premium to its XETRA closing price of €33.15 on July 8, 2026, "the last trading day prior to the publication of market reports regarding takeover interest from private equity firms," and a 46.9% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average price of €31.66 up to and including that date.

The deal values Qiagen at about €10.8 billion in enterprise value, or about $12.1 billion at current exchange rates, including about $1.1 billion of net debt, the company said.

Qiagen's Supervisory Board and Managing Board unanimously approved the agreement and will recommend that shareholders tender their shares, the company said. Their formal recommendation will be published after the bidder publishes its offer document. Qiagen said the offer followed a review of its strategic prospects that "included discussions with both strategic and financial parties."

"This transaction offers shareholders compelling value while positioning QIAGEN for its next phase of development under private ownership," Stephen H. Rusckowski, chairman of Qiagen's Supervisory Board, said in the announcement. Chief Executive Jonathan M. Pratt said, "Under private ownership, we can move faster and have greater freedom to put resources behind the most attractive opportunities ..."

Matteo Thun-Hohenstein, a partner at EQT, said in the announcement that "QIAGEN is an outstanding global leader in the life science tools and diagnostics market." Qiagen said it will keep operating under the Qiagen name and brand after the deal, and that EQT Private Equity has made commitments on matters including its strategy, key brands, operational footprint, research and development, and employee arrangements.

Conditions and timing

The offer requires a minimum acceptance of 50% of Qiagen's outstanding share capital plus one share, Qiagen said. It is also subject to shareholder approval of steps to be taken after the offer closes that would give the bidder full ownership of Qiagen's business, a separate decision by Qiagen's boards to carry out those steps, merger control and foreign investment clearances, and other conditions to be set out in the offer document.

Shareholders will vote on those steps at an extraordinary general meeting to be held during the initial acceptance period. Qiagen said its boards will carry out the steps if at least 80% of the votes cast approve them, and may still do so otherwise if they decide it is in the company's best interest and the deal has the support of "a substantial majority of its shareholder base."

If the deal is completed, Qiagen's listings on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange will be terminated, the company said. Shareholders who do not accept the offer would receive a cash distribution equal to the offer price less applicable withholding taxes, "which may result in a lower net amount being received," it said.

Closing is "currently expected in mid-2027," Qiagen said. If closing has not happened within 10 months of the announcement because regulatory approvals are still pending, Qiagen may pay shareholders an interim dividend of up to $0.47 per share, which would not be deducted from the offer price, it said.

The offer document must be approved by Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, and the acceptance period will begin once it is published, Qiagen said. EQT Private Equity has obtained committed equity and debt financing, and the deal is not subject to a financing condition, according to the announcement.

Outlook suspended

In a separate regulatory announcement on Wednesday, Qiagen said that "given the announced transaction with EQT Private Equity, QIAGEN has suspended its full-year 2026 outlook while the transaction is pending." Until the deal closes, Qiagen will continue to operate as an independent company under its current management, the company said.

What is not known

The offer document setting out the full terms and conditions has not yet been published, and the acceptance period has not started. Qiagen did not say which other parties took part in its strategic review, and it is not known whether the acceptance threshold and the regulatory clearances will be met on the expected timetable.