---
title: EQT Offers €46.50 a Share in €10.8 Billion Takeover of QIAGEN
description: EQT's €46.50-a-share cash offer values QIAGEN at about €10.8 billion. How it compares with Thermo Fisher's failed 2020 bid and what shareholders must approve.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-23T12:36:08.965Z
updated: 2026-10-23T12:36:08.982Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/qiagen-takeover-offer-price-per-share
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/qiagen-lab-scientists-eqt-takeover-474369.webp
categories: Business
content_type: News
region: Global
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

EQT is offering €46.50 in cash for every QIAGEN share, a deal that values the Netherlands-based diagnostics and life sciences company at about €10.8 billion including debt and would take it off the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges.

The bidder, Crown NL Bidco, is a holding company controlled by the EQT XI fund, with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Canada's CPP Investments holding indirect stakes as co-investors. QIAGEN's supervisory and managing boards, which approved the deal unanimously, will recommend that shareholders tender their shares, the companies said on 21 October. They expect the deal to close in mid-2027.

The price is 40.3% above QIAGEN's XETRA closing price of €33.15 on 8 July, the last trading day before reports that private equity firms were interested in the company, and 46.9% above the three-month volume-weighted average of €31.66 up to that date. Against the last close before the announcement, the premium is 8.6%, Reuters reported. The companies put the enterprise value at about $12.1 billion, including about $1.1 billion of net debt.

A day before the announcement, Bloomberg News reported that EQT had submitted a binding offer of more than $50 a share, and QIAGEN's US-listed shares rose more than 6% that afternoon, according to Reuters. QIAGEN had said in January that it was evaluating strategic options, and its boards held talks with both strategic and financial parties before agreeing terms with EQT.

Stephen H. Rusckowski, chairman of QIAGEN's supervisory board, said the boards weighed the company's prospects on its own against the alternatives and "unanimously concluded that this is the best path forward for QIAGEN, its shareholders and other stakeholders."

> "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

## Thermo Fisher's €43 Offer Lapsed in 2020 With 47.02% of QIAGEN Shares Tendered

QIAGEN became a takeover target after Peer Schatz, then chief executive, announced in October 2019 that he would leave, Reuters reported. In 2020 its boards unanimously recommended a cash offer from Thermo Fisher. That July, Thermo Fisher raised its price from €39 to €43 a share, about 35% above QIAGEN's close on 2 March 2020, and lowered its minimum acceptance threshold from 75% to 66.67%. When the acceptance period ended on 10 August 2020, holders of 107,546,187 shares, or 47.02% of those outstanding, had tendered. Thermo Fisher terminated the agreement after the offer lapsed, and QIAGEN agreed to pay it $95 million to reimburse its expenses, under terms the two companies had set in advance.

Reuters reported that the 2020 deal was valued at about $11.5 billion. Demand for QIAGEN's coronavirus testing products during the pandemic pushed its share price up, and some investors regarded the offer as too low.

## EQT Needs Tenders for Half of QIAGEN's Shares Plus One

EQT is paying €3.50 a share more than Thermo Fisher's final price, about 8% higher. Its minimum acceptance threshold is 50% of QIAGEN's outstanding share capital plus one share, against the 66.67% Thermo Fisher set in 2020.

Shareholders must also approve, at an extraordinary general meeting held during the acceptance period, a set of post-closing measures that hand the bidder full ownership of QIAGEN's business. Shareholders who have not tendered would then receive a cash distribution equal to the offer price less applicable withholding taxes, which the companies said "may result in a lower net amount being received than if such shareholders had accepted the Takeover Offer."

QIAGEN's boards will put the measures into effect if at least 80% of the votes cast at the meeting approve them. Below that level, the boards may still go ahead if they decide, under their fiduciary duties, that the deal is in QIAGEN's best interest and has "the support of a substantial majority of its shareholder base". In making that decision, the companies said, the boards may weigh votes from longer-term shareholders against votes from those "who acquired shares subsequent to the announcement with the aim of frustrating the transaction or pursuing event-driven hedge fund strategies".

EQT has committed equity and debt financing in place, so the offer carries no financing condition. Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Deutsche Bank, SMBC, Crédit Agricole and UniCredit are bookrunners on the debt.

## QIAGEN Has Suspended Its 2026 Outlook and Will Keep Its Name Under EQT

QIAGEN suspended its full-year 2026 outlook pending the deal and reported preliminary third-quarter net sales of $548 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.65, Reuters reported. Its shares are up about 10% this year after falling to their lowest level in more than six years in May.

Chief Executive Jonathan M. Pratt said private ownership would let QIAGEN "move faster and have greater freedom to put resources behind the most attractive opportunities that align best with our long-term strategy." In the business combination agreement, EQT made commitments on QIAGEN's strategy, key brands, operational footprint, research and development, employee arrangements and "prudent financing", and QIAGEN will keep its name and brand. The company employs about 5,400 people in more than 35 locations and sells to more than 500,000 customers in research labs, pharmaceutical companies, forensics and clinical diagnostics.

EQT has invested more than €30 billion in over 210 healthcare companies, including Galderma, Parexel and Aldevron. The firm said this deal will leave EQT XI, which has a target size of €23 billion, 10% to 15% invested.

More on QIAGEN is at [qiagen.com](https://www.qiagen.com).

## FAQ

**Q: Who else wanted to buy QIAGEN?**
Bloomberg News reported on 20 October, according to Reuters, that the US private equity firm KKR had also made a bid. KKR declined to comment. In July, buyout firms including Advent, EQT and KKR were linked to a possible acquisition.

**Q: How much is QIAGEN worth under the EQT offer?**
Reuters put the equity value of the offer, which leaves out debt, at about €9.6 billion ($10.78 billion). On 20 October, the day before the announcement, QIAGEN's stock market value was €8.57 billion, based on LSEG data cited by Reuters. The €10.8 billion figure the companies give is the enterprise value, which includes net debt.

**Q: What is a voluntary public takeover offer?**
It is an offer a bidder chooses to make to all of a company's shareholders to buy their shares at a fixed price, and each shareholder decides whether to tender. A mandatory offer, by contrast, is one a buyer is obliged to make after taking control. EQT's offer is made under Germany's Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act, with a parallel tender offer in the US.

**Q: What does a recommended takeover offer mean?**
The target company's boards support the offer and advise shareholders to accept it; a hostile offer has no such support. QIAGEN's boards will publish their formal recommendation in a position statement after the bidder publishes the offer document.

**Q: When will the QIAGEN takeover close?**
The companies expect closing in mid-2027. Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, must first approve the offer document, and the acceptance period opens when it is published; the same day, the bidder files a Schedule TO with the SEC. The deal also needs merger control and foreign investment clearances. If it has not closed within 10 months of the announcement because approvals are still pending, QIAGEN may pay an interim dividend of up to $0.47 a share, which would not be deducted from the offer price.