IK Investment Partners to support Mabtech

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement to acquire Mabtech, a leading specialist in immune monitoring. The founders and management team will continue to be invested. Merieux Equity Partners (“MxEP”) will acquire a minority stake alongside the Fund. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in Sweden in 1986, Mabtech has gained worldwide recognition for its high quality monoclonal antibodies and technical innovation capabilities and is viewed as a pioneer within the growing detection platform techniques of ELISpot and FluoroSpot. To complement its offering, the Company successfully entered the instruments market by launching its first reader, IRIS, in December 2018. Mabtech’s products are used by researchers and companies worldwide to study immune responses in e.g. cancer, allergy, infectious diseases as well as to monitor vaccine trials.

“Mabtech has become a well-reputable brand worldwide due to their high quality, innovation and excellent customer service, supporting their customers to obtain optimised test results with limited variability. The deal team has followed the company for several years and we understood this was a unique opportunity to acquire a global leader in a niche market and we are delighted to be the founders’ preferred partner for Niklas and his experienced team,” said Erik Ingemarsson, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK Small Cap II Fund.  

“We describe Mabtech as a company ‘founded by researchers for researchers’. Our success is built on long-term relationships with our clients and employees, and as we started planning for our next phase of growth, it was clear that we needed a partner who shares our values and vision. We could not be more happy about this exciting new partnership,” said Niklas Ahlborg, CEO of Mabtech. 

Benoit Chastaing, Senior Partner at Merieux Equity Partners added: “We are pleased to partner with IK Investment Partners, founders and Mabtech management team, to invest in a reference player in the immunoassays market. This attractive and growing segment has been a core focus for MxEP and we aim at bringing our expertise and industrial network to accompany Mabtech in its development together with IK.” 
 
The investment in Mabtech builds on IK’s strong track record in healthcare, following its successful sale of Ellab, a leading global supplier of thermal validation solutions, to EQT in September 2019, and its acquisition of LAP Laser, a leading German provider of laser positioning systems, in July 2019. 

The transaction represents the 8th investment made by the IK Small Cap II Fund, and the team included Erik Ingemarsson, Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Henrik Geijer, Viktor Josefsson and Patrik Stockhaus. 

Completion of the transaction is expected during December.

For further questions, please contact:

Mabtech
Niklas Ahlborg, CEO
niklas@mabtech.com

IK Investment Partners
Erik Ingemarsson, Partner
Phone: +46 8 678 95 00

Mikaela Murekian, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.murekian@ikinvest.com

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €10 billion of capital and invested in over 125 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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