This week, Swedish private equity and real assets investment manager EQT announced it has teamed up with Abu Dhabi’s $284 billion sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company to acquire Envirotainer, a Swedish-headquartered provider of cold-chain logistics for the transportation of biopharmaceuticals. The sellers were European private equity investor Cinven and Novo Holdings, the holding company for Danish biotech firms Novo Nordisk and Novozymes. Deal terms imply an enterprise value for Envirotainer of EUR 2.8 billion (about $3 billion).
Envirotainer was founded in 1985 in Stockholm, Sweden, where its headquarters, R&D and production are still headquartered. Envirotainer designs, manufactures and leases active temperature-controlled containers, used primarily for air freighting biopharma products. With a fleet of circa 6,700 containers globally and approximately 375 employees in 20 countries, the Company is the global leader in active temperature control for air transportation of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals. Envirotainer has more than 600 customers worldwide, including many global blue-chip pharma and biotech companies.
As EQT noted in its announcement of the deal, millions of people worldwide depend on the safe delivery of biopharmaceuticals that require temperature control to maintain their integrity and quality. Today, lack of access to medicines is a cause for distress that disproportionately impacts underserved communities, whose situation is likely to be exacerbated by chronic diseases resulting from changing diets and lifestyles, as well as from air and water pollution. Envirotainer expands access to vital pharmaceuticals and vaccines through its patient-safe, reliable and efficient cold chain solutions, which also offer one of the lowest carbon footprint solutions in the industry.
EQT Private Equity and Mubadala say they will seek to support Envirotainer in its next phase of growth by accelerating expansion in APAC and continuing growth in its other core markets, and will leverage EQT’s local-with-locals approach and Mubadala’s global network to do so. Building on the sector-related expertise of EQT’s network and Mubadala, EQT Private Equity and Mubadala will help scale the newly launched CryoSure offering and continue the successful roll-out of third-generation Releye platform, while investing behind new technology innovations, digitalization and sustainability in its operations.
“The temperature-controlled distribution of pharma products offers very attractive and thematic exposure to the fast-growing biopharma end-market,” said Ali Farahani, Partner within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team. “Envirotainer is an integral part of the global pharmaceutical infrastructure and the clear global market leader with significant scale advantages, superior operations and industry-leading performance and customer satisfaction. The company has a clear purpose of enabling access to life-saving pharmaceuticals and offers reusable solutions with significantly less CO2 emissions compared to traditional air-freight solutions. We continue to see significant growth potential ahead and are excited to partner with the management team to unlock the full potential together with our partners at Mubadala.”
“Envirotainer plays a mission-critical role in the healthcare ecosystem by ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of drugs from pharma companies to hospitals, clinics, and ultimately, patients,” said Camilla Macapili Languille, Head of Life Sciences for Mubadala, said, Their extensive international footprint ideally positions Envirotainer to meet the pharma industry’s growing need for global temperature-controlled distribution and as the undisputed market leader, they are continuing to pioneer developments in the sector with forward-thinking R&D innovation. We have strong conviction in the company’s growth trajectory and will work closely with management and our partners at EQT to ensure its long-term success.”
“We are pleased with the confidence that EQT and Mubadala have shown us by investing in the company and look forward to closely collaborating to further develop the business,” said Envirotainer CEO Peter Gisel-Ekdahl. “This long-term partnership will strengthen Envirotainer and help us deliver on our purpose of enabling access to life-saving pharmaceuticals. At the same time, this investment, from such esteemed investors, confirms the strength of Envirotainer’s business model and the company’s very exciting future.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close in Q3 2022. With the acquisition of Envirotainer, EQT X (target fund size of EUR 20.0 billion and hard cap of EUR 21.5 billion) will be 0-5 percent invested based on its target fund size. EQT X will be activated and start charging management fees upon the closing of its first transaction, currently expected to be the closing of the acquisition of Envirotainer. EQT IX is currently 80-85 percent invested, following recent portfolio company add-on acquisitions, and continues to be in its commitment period but management fees will, following activation of EQT X, be based on net invested capital.
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close in Q3 2022. With the acquisition of Envirotainer, EQT X (whose target fund size is EUR 20.0 billion and whose hard cap is EUR 21.5 billion) will be 0-5 percent invested based on its target fund size. EQT X will be activated and start charging management fees upon the closing of its first transaction, currently expected to be the closing of the acquisition of Envirotainer. EQT IX is currently 80-85 percent invested, following recent portfolio company add-on acquisitions, and continues to be in its commitment period but management fees will, following activation of EQT X, be based on net invested capital.
