Chr. Hansen Holding A/S (“Chr. Hansen”) today announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of UAS Laboratories LLC (“UAS Labs”) following the satisfaction of all closing conditions.
With UAS Labs, Chr. Hansen further strengthens its microbial platform and Human Health business by moving into the highly attractive space of multi-species, high-potency blends and broadening its product offering and customer base. Furthermore, Chr. Hansen is expanding its manufacturing footprint with two GMP facilities in the United States which will allow phasing of capex projects over the coming years and reduce enterprise risk.
Mauricio Graber, Chief Executive Officer of Chr. Hansen, said: “With closing of the UAS Labs acquisition, we look forward to building upon the strengths of both companies. We will expand our probiotic offerings from strain to solution, gain access to new customer groups and move into new indication areas whilst staying true to our commitment to science and R&D. We are really excited to welcome the team from UAS Labs to the Chr. Hansen organization and will pursue a ‘best of both’ approach for the integration to create value for customers and shareholders. I am convinced that together we can truly shape the global probiotics market for the future.”
Chr. Hansen will now begin the process of integrating UAS Labs. UAS Labs has 230 employees and is expected to generate revenues of around USD 85 million and EBITDA above USD 30 million before synergies in 2020. Guidance for the full year 2019/20 is maintained, though the acquisition will have a minor negative impact on Group EBIT margin before special items. In 2020/21, there will be a negative impact on Group EBIT margin before special items of around 1%‐point (preliminary estimate) due to depreciations of the acquired tangible and intangible assets. By 2024/25, the acquisition is expected to be EBIT margin neutral to slightly accretive.
Acquiring UAS Labs is fully in line with Chr. Hansen’s strategy and capital allocation framework of pursuing bolt-on acquisitions to strengthen its microbial platform. UAS Labs has been acquired from the private equity fund Lakeview Equity Partners, management team and other shareholders at a transaction value, net of tax assets, of USD 530 million. Leverage will increase short-term to around 3x net debt/EBITDA by the end of financial year 2019/20, but Chr. Hansen is aiming to bring down net debt to a level consistent with a solid investment grade rating.
The acquisition was announced on June 9, 2020.
A Chr. Hansen é uma empresa líder global de biociência, que desenvolve soluções naturais para as indústrias alimentícia, nutricional, farmacêutica e agrícola. Desenvolvemos e produzimos culturas, enzimas, probióticos e corantes naturais para uma ampla variedade de alimentos, confeitos, bebidas, suplementos nutricionais, rações animais e proteção vegetal. A nossa inovação em produtos se baseia em cerca de 40 mil cepas microbianas – nós gostamos de chamá-las de “bactérias boas”. Nossas soluções permitem aos fabricantes de alimentos produzir mais com menos – ao mesmo tempo que reduzem o uso de produtos químicos e outros aditivos sintéticos –, tornando nossos produtos altamente relevantes no mundo atual. Sustentabilidade é uma parte essencial da visão da Chr. Hansen para melhorar os alimentos e a saúde. Em 2019, a Chr. Hansen foi considerada a empresa mais sustentável do mundo pela Corporate Knights, graças aos nossos esforços em prol da sustentabilidade e às muitas parcerias colaborativas com os nossos clientes. Há mais de 145 anos nós satisfazemos os nossos parceiros e, por extensão, os nossos consumidores finais em todo o mundo. Temos orgulho pelo fato de que mais de 1 bilhão de pessoas consome diariamente produtos contendo os nossos ingredientes naturais. A Chr. Hansen foi fundada em 1874 e está listada na Nasdaq Copenhagen.
