Astorg Cultures a New Diagnostics Company From Thermo Fisher
The $1.075 billion carve-out gives the Oxoid and Remel microbiology brands a life of their own under a new name and a new chief executive
Thermo Fisher Scientific's microbiology unit makes the consumables and instruments that laboratories use to grow, identify and test microbes — the bacteria and fungi behind infections, food contamination and drug-manufacturing risks.
August 13, 2026|John McNulty
Astorg Partners has acquired the global microbiology business of Thermo Fisher Scientific for $1.075 billion, consisting of cash and a $50 million seller note, carving out a maker of diagnostic test media and equipment as a standalone company.
The microbiology unit makes the consumables and instruments that laboratories use to grow, identify and test microbes — the bacteria and fungi behind infections, food contamination and drug-manufacturing risks. Its core products are culture media (the nutrient plates and broths that coax microorganisms to grow so they can be identified) and antimicrobial susceptibility tests (discs and panels that reveal which antibiotics will kill a given organism), sold under long-established brands including Oxoid and Remel.
Customers of the business operate in three end markets: hospital and clinical labs diagnosing patient infections, food and beverage producers screening for pathogens, and pharmaceutical manufacturers checking products and facilities for contamination.
The Oxoid and Remel portfolio spans manual and semi-automated testing kits to automated systems, backed by quality-control organisms and laboratory consumables, and is used wherever a lab needs to detect or characterize microbes and guide treatment or safety decisions. The business serves more than 15,000 customers in over 100 countries and operates 13 manufacturing and research-and-development sites worldwide, employing roughly 2,400 people.
The microbiology business generated $645 million in revenue in 2025 as part of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s specialty diagnostics segment. Based on the $1.075 billion purchase price this equates to a revenue valuation multiple of about 1.7x.
Dirk Bontridder
Now independent, the company will be led by Chief Executive Officer Dirk Bontridder and will introduce a new corporate brand later in 2026.
Mr. Bontridder has more than 25 years of experience across the life sciences, diagnostics and industrial technology sectors. He most recently was the CEO of PerkinElmer, where he led its transformation into a provider of analytical and laboratory instruments, and previously was chief executive officer of Reynaers Group and group executive vice president for BioPharma Services and Clinical Diagnostics at Eurofins Scientific.
“This is a unique journey to create an independent global microbiology diagnostics company with an exceptional portfolio, talented teams and a long-standing reputation for quality, scientific excellence and customer service,” said Mr. Bontridder. “I look forward to working with colleagues around the world and with Astorg to build on these strengths, continue delivering the products, service and innovation that our customers rely on, and introduce our new brand in due course as we begin this next chapter.”
The microbiology business was assembled during the laboratory-supply industry’s consolidation of the 2000s. Its foundation was laid in 2004, when Fisher Scientific acquired Oxoid, a UK-based maker of culture media and diagnostic products, and combined it with Remel, a Lenexa, Kansas-based provider of microbiology testing products that Fisher acquired through its combination with Apogent Technologies later that year. The combination created what Fisher described at the time as a $275 million microbiology business. The operation passed to Thermo Fisher Scientific when Fisher merged with Thermo Electron in 2006 and was initially housed within its Analytical Technologies segment before ultimately becoming part of the company’s Specialty Diagnostics segment.
Judith Charpentier
“This is precisely the type of complex opportunity where Astorg can make a difference, combining deep healthcare expertise, an entrepreneurial and hands-on partnership model, and a strong track record of value creation across the companies we back,” said Judith Charpentier, a co-managing partner and head of healthcare at Astorg.
Clinical microbiology diagnostics — the culture media, reagents and testing systems used to identify infectious organisms and determine which drugs will treat them — is a global market of roughly $5.8 billion in 2025, growing close to 8 percent a year toward $8.4 billion by 2030, according to MarketsandMarkets.
Two forces are driving demand: rising antimicrobial resistance, which makes susceptibility testing essential before doctors change therapy, and expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing and food-safety testing, both of which require routine microbial screening. Culture-based methods remain entrenched because regulators still require phenotypic susceptibility results for complex infections, giving established consumable brands a durable, recurring revenue base even as faster molecular and point-of-care methods grow alongside them.
Olivier Lieven
“We are delighted to welcome Dirk and look forward to working with him and the management team to deliver the company’s next phase of growth, accelerate innovation and strengthen its global position,” said Olivier Lieven, a partner at Astorg.
Astorg invests in U.S. and European-based companies with enterprise values ranging from €100 million to €500 million. The firm invests across a range of industries but has a specific focus on technology-based industrial companies, healthcare, and business-to-business professional services. Astorg has assets under management of over €24 billion and has offices in London, Paris, New York, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, and Milan.
