HedgeCo.Net — EQT has agreed to take QIAGEN private through a recommended, all-cash voluntary public takeover offer of €46.50 per share, a transaction the molecular testing company said values it at approximately €10.8 billion in enterprise value, or about $12.1 billion including roughly $1.1 billion of net debt. Reuters put the equity value at about €9.6 billion. The bidder, Crown NL Bidco B.V., is indirectly controlled by the EQT XI fund, with co-investment participations held by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and by CPP Investment Board Europe, part of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
The price represents a 40.3% premium to QIAGEN’s XETRA close of €33.15 on July 8, 2026, the last trading day before reports of private equity takeover interest, and a 46.9% premium to the three-month volume-weighted average price up to that date. Measured against the most recent close, however, Reuters said the premium was 8.6%, a reminder that much of the bid had already been priced in after months of speculation. QIAGEN’s U.S.-listed shares rose 0.7% in extended trading after the announcement.
QIAGEN’s supervisory and managing boards fully support the deal and have agreed to unanimously recommend that shareholders accept. The offer is subject to a minimum acceptance threshold of 50% of outstanding share capital plus one share, resolutions at an extraordinary general meeting including approval of post-closing measures, and merger control and foreign investment clearances. EQT has secured equity and debt financing, and closing is expected in mid-2027. If required approvals are still pending ten months after the announcement, QIAGEN may pay shareholders an interim dividend of up to $0.47 per share without reducing the offer price.
The deal ends a long run of takeover attention for the Dutch company. Thermo Fisher Scientific agreed in 2020 to acquire QIAGEN in a transaction valued at about $11.5 billion but abandoned it after failing to win enough shareholder support. QIAGEN suspended its full-year 2026 outlook pending the transaction and reported preliminary third-quarter net sales of $548 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.65.
For allocators, the structure is the familiar large-cap European template: a flagship buyout fund taking control while sovereign and pension co-investors share the equity check, with an acceptance threshold set at a simple majority rather than a higher squeeze-out level. The 50%-plus-one condition, paired with post-closing measures, gives the sponsor a path to full ownership even if a meaningful minority does not tender, which is precisely where the gap between the 40.3% headline premium and the 8.6% premium to the last close may matter.