Navis exits medical cold chain player to US strategic
Navis Capital Partners has sold 100% of B Medical Systems, a Luxembourg-based biotech cold chain provider with significant Asian operations, at an enterprise value of EUR 460m (USD 469m).
Navis acquired the company for an undisclosed sum via its USD 1.5bn seventh fund in 2015 as a subsidiary carve-out from medical refrigerator maker Dometic. Since then, the private equity firm has invested an additional EUR 50m in building out operations in India and Indonesia as well as automating manufacturing capabilities in Luxembourg.
The buyer is US-based Azenta, a leading cold chain provider for the global life sciences industry with eight offices in Asia, mostly in China. It will pay EUR 410m upfront plus EUR 50m conditional on the achievement of performance milestones. The transaction is expected to close in October.
This is Navis’ second exit to a global strategic in the past month, following the sale of Hong Kong-based footwear components maker Texon to Coats Group of the UK for an enterprise value of USD 237m.
B Med claims to be the largest vaccine cold chain provider globally with operations in 150 countries and a strong focus on serving developing economies where grid support is unreliable. It also transports blood, medicines, biospecimens, and pharmaceuticals.
The company also positions itself as a global segment leader in terms of technical capabilities and the only operator with refrigerators certified by the EU and US authorities, as well as the World Health Organization. These devices feature technologies such as password-protected or electronic car-based door locking mechanisms.
“B Med is an interesting case study illustrating the successful execution of a product development strategy focused solely on providing medical equipment and data that helps organisations around the world to save millions of lives in challenging and low-resource settings – and to do so at the lowest total cost of ownership of such equipment in the industry,” Nicholas Bloy, a managing partner at Navis, said in a statement.
“Today, B Med is the undisputed industry leader and has raised the bar in terms of product reliability and longevity, in rapid production and deployment of cold chains, and in ESG [environmental, social, and governance] standards across the board.”
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