Swedish private equity firm EQT has agreed to acquire the German diagnostics company Qiagen in a deal valued at approximately €10.8 billion, including debt. The offer price stands at €46.50 per share in cash, representing about a 40 percent premium over Qiagen’s share price before takeover speculation surfaced. The company’s supervisory and management boards have unanimously endorsed the transaction, which marks one of the largest take-private deals in Europe this year.
Launched earlier in 2026, the bidding process concluded with EQT partnering with two major institutional investors: the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund, and Canada’s CPP Investments. The acquisition highlights a resurgence in sizeable private equity takeovers of publicly listed firms across Europe, following deals such as CVC’s €10.9 billion purchase of Italy’s Recordati and EQT’s €10.7 billion acquisition of UK-based Intertek.
Private equity firms face increasing pressure to deploy substantial capital, even as rising interest rates and geopolitical uncertainties complicate exits and suppress asset valuations. In this context, EQT’s deal for Qiagen ranks among the most significant Europe-based take-private transactions within the last five years. Notably, Blackstone secured a €12.7 billion takeover of Italy’s Atlantia (now Mundys) in 2022, and Permira joined Blackstone’s €12 billion bid for online marketplace Adevinta in 2023.
Qiagen’s CEO, Jon Pratt, said that private ownership will enable the company to act with greater agility and “put resources behind the most attractive opportunities” aligned with its long-term strategy. Founded in Germany in the 1980s, Qiagen was among the first German technology companies to list on the US Nasdaq exchange and has been a potential takeover target for several years.
A previous attempt to acquire the company came in early 2020 when US-based Thermo Fisher proposed to buy Qiagen at a valuation of $11.5 billion. That deal collapsed after Qiagen’s stock surged amid increased demand for Covid-19 testing and laboratory equipment, driven by the pandemic. However, by mid-2026, the company’s share price had dropped by more than 50 percent from its September 2021 peak. This decline resulted from reduced demand for Covid-related tests and weaker sales of tuberculosis assays, which accounted for about a quarter of Qiagen’s roughly $2 billion revenue in 2025.
The acquisition follows activist investor Fivespan Partners’ build-up of a stake in Qiagen last year, reflecting ongoing shareholder interest in the company’s future direction. The transaction is expected to close in the coming months, subject to regulatory approvals.