EQT, KKR Weigh Bids for Stake in Medtech Firm Stratec

(Bloomberg) -- EQT AB and KKR & Co. are among buyout firms weighing bids for German health-care technology provider Stratec SE, according to people familiar with the matter.

CVC Capital Partners and Permira have also been studying the business, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Several private equity firms have expressed preliminary interest in a stake being sold by Stratec's founder Hermann Leistner and his family, the people said.

Any move for Leistner's 40.55% holding could trigger a bid for all of the Frankfurt-listed company. Shares of Stratec were up 18% at 10:35 a.m. Friday in Germany, giving the company a market value of about 1.45 billion euros ($1.6 billion) and putting it on track for the biggest daily gain since June 2003.

The buyout funds are still in the early stages of examining the Stratec, and there's no certainty they will decide to proceed with formal offers, the people said. Some suitors could be turned off by Stratec's rising valuation, as well as the potential difficulty of securing financing for a deal given the capital-intensive nature of its business, the people said.

Bloomberg News reported in February that Leistner was exploring options for the company. Representatives for CVC, EQT, KKR, Permira and Stratec declined to comment.

Based in Birkenfeld, Germany, Stratec employs about 1,400 people and produces machinery to automate in-vitro testing in laboratories, including for coronaviruses. The company saw earnings for the first nine months of 2021 rise 61% to 58 million euros.

While Stratec shares surged during the coronavirus pandemic, global vaccination programs and the development of possible therapeutic treatments is curbing the need for testing. That's caused its shares to slump in recent months.