Qiagen buying 96% of Polish enzymes provider Blirt

Netherlands-based Qiagen (NYSE: QGEN) has signed agreements to acquire a 96% majority ownership stake in Blirt SA (PSE: BLR), a manufacturer of recombinant enzymes for the life science industry based in Gdansk, Poland. No financial terms were revealed, but the news saw Blirt’s shares leap 485 to 13.00 zloty.

Blirt develops, manufactures and commercializes standardized and customized solutions for proteins and enzymes as well as molecular biology reagents. Its offering includes proteins and enzymes that are critical to the life sciences industry and diagnostic kit manufacturers, especially for non-COVID-19 applications. Blirt, founded in 1994, has around 90 employees and generated 2021 sales of less than $10 million.

“The addition of Blirt to Qiagen brings highly complementary capabilities that will create additional growth prospects for our enzymes and reagents business,” said Thomas Schweins, senior vice president and head of Qiagen’s Life Sciences Business Area, adding: “Blirt will also widen our geographic presence, add new sales channels, strengthen our production and R&D capacities and safeguard our supply chains. This acquisition will further strengthen our sample technologies business, one of our five pillars of growth. And it also supports our strategy to focus on attractive growth opportunities in the life science and molecular diagnostic markets and our disciplined approach to value-creating acquisitions.”