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Side door into reproductive health
Astorg looks to devices and consumables
PRESENTED BY HIIVE
Transacted
December 2, 2024
Happy Monday. Here’s what we’ve got today…
A look at Astorg’s reproductive health play
Plus, EQT and GIC acquire Calisen
Hiive’s quarterly state of the private market reports offer a window into pricing, liquidity, and momentum trends in the pre-IPO market, using real-time data derived from user indications and transactions on the Hiive platform — information and commentary you won’t find anywhere else.
Excerpt from the Q4 2024 Report:
“The delta between bid price and ask price on the Hiive platform, as a percent discount to the latest implied primary investment valuation, has decreased from 14.1% at the beginning of 2024 to 8.5% at the end of Q3. Bids reflect a shrinking discount, which may indicate overall private market trends toward increasing liquidity. When the bid/ask spread narrows…”
A new way into reproductive health:
Reproductive health has been an area of interest to private equity for years now.
Part of the reason is the market’s uniquely attractive characteristics relative to other specialties. High self-pay rates limit reimbursement risk, ancillary services in genetic testing and tissue storage offer achievable upside (research shows sponsor-backed groups book more genetic testing procedures than peers), and macro trends like delayed parenthood have held steady.
There’s even evidence that sponsors can improve IVF outcomes. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine explains that a "larger, investor-backed conglomerate, with a larger clinic network, increases the cycle data available to the clinic."
It makes sense, then, that reproductive health now has the largest share of private equity-backed providers of any medical specialty—nearly 30 percent by procedure volume.
In such a mature space, opportunities may be scarce and upside more limited, but the market’s fundamental tailwinds mean it’s still an attractive prospect.
Astorg found a solution in its recently completed simultaneous take-private of Hamilton Thorne and carve-out of Cook Medical's Reproductive Health division, creating a pure-play assisted reproductive technology (ART) platform.
The combination brings together Hamilton Thorne's precision instruments and software offerings with Cook's in-vitro fertilization consumables business (ovum aspiration needles, catheters, pipettes, etc.).
Both businesses sell into a mix of doctors/clinics and embryologists to capture the second-order upside in reproductive health’s expansion. The device and consumables market also still happens to be highly fragmented, handing Astorg an attractive inorganic opportunity as well.
DEALS, DEALS, DEALS
• EQT and GIC agreed to acquire a majority stake in Calisen, a UK-based smart metering company, for around €4 billion from a group including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and Mubadala.
• Telefónica terminated its agreement to sell a 64 percent stake in its Peruvian fiber network to KKR and Entel, citing unmet closing conditions related to a parallel KKR-Telefónica Hispanoamérica transaction.
• Aster DM Healthcare agreed to merge with Blackstone-backed Quality Care India in a $5.08 billion deal that will create India's third-largest hospital chain.
• Fortress Investment Group acquired Gyptech, a Burlington, Ontario-based manufacturer of gypsum wallboard and asphalt-shingle equipment.
• Sagewind Capital acquired Aechelon Technology, a provider of image generation software for Department of Defense applications.
• FountainVest Partners and Unison Capital acquired Tasaki & Co., a Japanese jewelry maker based in Kobe, from MBK Partners for around $667 million.
• Great Hill Partners sold Mission Cloud Services to CDW (Nasdaq: CDW).
• GeoPark (NYSE: GPRK) agreed to acquire Repsol's Colombian oil and gas assets for around $530 million.
• Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) agreed to acquire De Grey Mining (ASX: DEG), an Australian gold mining miner developing the Hemi project in Western Australia, for A$5 billion in stock.
• Avenue Sports Fund invested in Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 professional women's basketball league launching in January 2025 with six teams.
• ABC Technologies Holdings, backed by Apollo Global Management, agreed to acquire TI Fluid Systems (LSE: TIFS), a British auto parts maker, for £1.04 billion.
• Vitu, backed by Accel-KKR, agreed to acquire the Dealertrack registration and titling businesses from Cox Automotive.
• Ipsos (PARIS: ISOS) is considering an acquisition of Kantar Media, Kantar Group’s TV ratings and media analysis business, which could be worth up to £1 billion and has received competing interest from sponsors, including Triton Partners and Cinven.
• I Squared Capital submitted a rival takeover offer for HKBN Ltd., a Hong Kong broadband provider, competing with China Mobile's previous bid at a valuation of more than $835 million.
• Macquarie Asset Management offered to acquire Renewi (LSE: RWI), a European waste management provider, for £701 million.
• Pacific Equity Partners agreed to acquire Singapore Post's Australian business, a logistics and freight services provider, for A$1.02 billion.
• Qatar Investment Authority acquired a minority stake in Sauber Holding, Audi's Formula One factory team set to launch in 2026.
• Nvidia, Accel, and Orbis Investments invested $700 million in Nebius Group, a Dutch AI infrastructure provider, through a private placement at $21 per share.
• EQT Mid Market Europe sold Parcel2Go, a UK parcel delivery marketplace and e-commerce shipping platform, to an undisclosed investor group.
VENTURE & EARLY-STAGE
Tech, Vertical SaaS, & Misc. Enterprise
• S.MPLE, a real estate sales automation platform, raised $45 million in Series B funding co-led by Camber Creek and Left Lane Capital.
• Predium, a Munich-based provider of ESG management solutions, raised €13 million in Series A funding led by Norrsken VC, with participation from UVC Partners, b2venture, and Mutschler Ventures.
Fintech
• Public, an AI-enabled investment platform, raised $135 million in Series D-2 funding led by Accel, including $105 million in equity and $30 million in debt financing.
• 9fin, an analytics platform for debt capital markets, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Highland Europe, with participation from Spark Capital, Redalpine, Seedcamp, 500 Startups, and Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital.
Consumer & Media
• Coding Giants, a Polish hybrid coding education platform for children and teens, raised €8.5 million in new funding led by True Global Ventures, with participation from PortfoLion Capital Partners.
FUNDRAISING
• Abingsworth is raising a $1.5 billion clinical trials fund to finance up to eight late-stage clinical studies with royalty-sharing arrangements.
• Avenue Sports Fund and Playmaker Fund formed a strategic partnership to jointly invest in sports assets across Europe and North America.
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