Private equity double-dips are a tasty faux pas

Synlab AG

04/12/2023 09:56

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Aimee Donnellan
       LONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Cinven is buying
testing firm Synlab for $2.5 bln, some 44% below the price it
listed it at in 2021. Buying companies that you previously owned
on the cheap looks appealing at a time when high rates are
stifling buyouts. But it may make investors more wary of future
floats.
    Full view will be published shortly.
    Follow @aimeedonnellan on X


    CONTEXT NEWS
    Private equity firm Cinven on Sept. 29 offered 10 euros a
share to take Covid test maker Synlab private.
    The offer represents a 44% discount to Synlab’s initial
public offering price of 18 euros in 2021, at the peak of the
Covid-testing boom.
    Cinven controls 43% of Synlab. Shares in Synlab were at 11.6
euros at 0932 GMT on Dec. 4.

 (Editing by Neil Unmack and Oliver Taslic)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  DONNELLAN/ 
Aimee.Donnellan@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
Aimee.Donnellan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))