EQT Agrees to Buy Qiagen for €46.50 a Share, Six Years After Thermo Fisher's Bid Failed

EQT's private equity arm agreed on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, to buy Qiagen, the German-Dutch maker of molecular testing products, for €46.50 a share in cash. The offer values Qiagen at an enterprise value of about €10.8 billion, or about $12.1 billion including about $1.1 billion of net debt, and both of Qiagen's boards support it. The price is 40.3% above €33.15, the Xetra close on July 8, 2026, before Bloomberg first reported takeover interest, and 8.6% above the October 21 Frankfurt close of €42.82.

Qiagen's New York-listed shares closed up 2.25% at $50.00 on Wednesday, before the agreement was announced after the close. A day earlier they rose more than 6% in the afternoon after Bloomberg reported that EQT was in advanced talks and had made a binding offer, and that KKR had also bid.

Why EQT set a lower acceptance bar than Thermo Fisher

In 2020 Thermo Fisher offered €39 a share for Qiagen, then raised its offer to €43 and cut the share of stock it needed tendered from 75% to 66.67%. Only about 47.02% was tendered by the August 10, 2020 deadline, so the deal lapsed and Qiagen paid Thermo Fisher $95 million to cover its costs. The hedge fund Davidson Kempner, which held about 8%, refused to tender and said Qiagen was worth €48 to €52 a share.

EQT needs 50% of the share capital plus one share. After the offer settles, an extraordinary general meeting is asked to approve post-closing steps that hand EQT the whole business, and shareholders who did not tender would receive cash equal to the offer price, less withholding tax. The lower threshold and the general-meeting route to full ownership leave less room for a holdout stake like Davidson Kempner's to block the deal. EQT's price is 8.1% above Thermo Fisher's final offer and below the €48 to €52 range Davidson Kempner argued for six years ago.

A new chief executive and a suspended forecast

Jonathan Pratt became Qiagen's chief executive on September 1, 2026, succeeding Thierry Bernard. With the deal, Qiagen suspended its 2026 outlook and published preliminary third-quarter figures: net sales of $548 million and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.65, against $533 million and $0.61 a year earlier. It will report full third-quarter results on November 4 without a conference call.

Who else wanted Qiagen

Bloomberg reported on July 9, 2026 that EQT, Advent and KKR were interested and that some had signalled at least $50 a share, and Qiagen's shares rose about 11% that day. On October 20 it reported that KKR had also made a bid before the board chose EQT.