Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund is helping take another listed company private, alongside EQT

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) is co-investing in Swedish private equity firm EQT’s takeover of Qiagen, which values the molecular testing company at c. EUR 10.8 bn. Adia’s wholly owned subsidiary Luxinva and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) will hold indirect stakes in the EQT XI-controlled vehicle making the allcash offer of EUR 46.50 per share, the companies said in a joint statement. Qiagen’s supervisory and managing boards back the transaction unanimously and will recommend that shareholders accept. The size of Adia’s stake wasn’t disclosed.

The price is a 40.3% premium on where Qiagen traded before word of the acquisition leaked on 8 July. The EUR 10.8 bn (c. USD 12.1 bn) enterprise value includes about USD 1.1 bn of net debt. Rival buyout firm KKR had also bid, Bloomberg reports.

What does Qiagen do? The Netherlands-based company makes the kits, instruments, and software that labs use to extract and analyze DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood and tissue samples. It sells to more than 500k customers in pharma research, clinical diagnostics, and forensics and employs about 5.4k people.

Why it matters: Qiagen is the latest public company Adia is helping take private. Our September coverage noted that its private equity arm leaned into take-privates, including Dayforce and Hologic — Hologic, like Qiagen, makes diagnostics equipment. The takeover also fits a bigger shift: Adia raised its long-term private equity allocation range to 15-20% from 12-17% in its 2025 review. And it’s Adia’s second megadeal with EQT this year. Earlier this year, it joined Mubadala in committing a combined GBP 1.5 bn to EQT’s GBP 9.3 bn takeover of UK testing group Intertek, taking an 18% stake to Mubadala’s 8%. EQT is also building its presence in the Gulf: it opened its first Middle East office in ADGM last month.

Qiagen has been here before: Thermo Fisher Scientific’s takeover attempt collapsed in 2020 following shareholder opposition. This time, the minimum acceptance threshold is 50% of shares plus one. If the delisting and post-closing steps secure less than 80% of votes at the extraordinary general meeting, Qiagen’s board can still proceed with “substantial majority” support. In judging that support, they can give less weight to investors who bought in after the announcement to block the transaction or to trade on it. PSquared Asset Management, one of Qiagen’s largest shareholders, had pushed for a sale at more than USD 50 per share.

What’s next: Germany’s financial regulator BaFin must approve the offer document before the acceptance period opens. Closing is expected in mid-2027, subject to merger-control and foreign-investment clearances. Qiagen will delist from Frankfurt and the NYSE once the transaction completes.

MEANWHILE- Adia is selling its stake in Chicago’s parking meters after nearly two decades. Stonepeak completed its acquisition of Chicago Parking Meters (CPM), which runs the city’s 38k+ on-street metered spaces, from a consortium of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, Allianz, and an Adia subsidiary, the US infrastructure investor said in a statement. The transaction is worth USD 2.53 bn, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Adia’s share of the proceeds wasn’t disclosed.

A long-running investment with some baggage: Adia was part of the consortium behind Chicago's controversial 75-year parking concession, agreed in 2008 for USD 1.15 bn. The arrangement has since drawn criticism for handing decades of parking revenues to private investors. The latest ownership transfer gave Chicago an opening to negotiate a USD 75 mn payment, a 5% share of future net income, and 2% of proceeds from any subsequent sale before the concession expires in 2084.

Selling assets is part of the strategy too. Adia says its private equity department actively sold down positions in 2025, and Stonepeak has been a buyer before: Adia agreed to sell its roughly 50% stake in reusable packaging firm IFCO to Stonepeak last year.