South Korean billionaire Cho Young-sik’s SD Biosensor and Seoul-based personal equity company SJL Partners announced Thursday that they will get Nasdaq-listed diagnostics company Meridian Bioscience for $1. 53 billion in cash, paving the way for SD Biosensor to enter the U. S. mass market. USA for C0vid -19 Trials.
SD Biosensor and SJL Partners said they would pay $34 according to the consistent percentage for Meridian. This represents a 32% premium over Meridian’s final value of $25. 67 on March 17, when SD Biosensor and SJL Partners made their first offer. Under the terms of the agreement, SD Biosensor will own 60% of Meridian, while SJL Partners will own 40%. Meridian said it expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
“We are excited to be a circle of family members with Meridian Bioscience as the ideal spouse to drive our access to the U. S. in vitro diagnostics market. “Cho, founder and president of SD Biosensor, said in a statement. He added that Meridian U. S. la distribution network and expertise in the country’s regulated market can enable “compelling synergies. “
Prior to introducing COVID-19 controls, Meridian developed diagnostic control kits for other acute infectious diseases, such as foodborne illnesses, respiratory infections, and others. Founded in 1977, the Life Sciences Society was founded in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first to expand immediate control. for strep throat.
The expansion of SD Biosensor in the U. S. marketUU. se occurs when the company is still seeking official distribution approval. Last January, the company voluntarily withdrew its immediate Covid-19 Standard Q tests which it said were illegally imported into the country. And in March, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned consumers to avoid those kits, fearing the procedure would provide false results.
The Suwon-based company’s overseas success includes India, Singapore and Slovakia, which in December 2020 purchased thirteen million covid-19 tests from SD Biosensor for their population.
SD Biosensor and its peers in South Korea were among the first to mass-produce Covid-19 controls, as the country was the first to suffer the worst primary coronavirus outbreak outside of China. SD Biosensor and 3 other Korean corporations had their first control kits approved through the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in February 2020.
Building on its viral success, SD Biosensor went public on the Korean Stock Exchange in July 2021, with some $650 million and making Cho a self-taught billionaire.