One Rock Capital Partners has closed the sale of Kova International to LGC Group, a portfolio company of private equity firms Cinven and Astorg.
Kova International is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of supplies for the medical laboratory market. Kova operates two product lines: (1) urinalysis controls, consisting of urine-based controls for urine chemistry and microscopy urinalysis; and (2) toxicology controls, consisting of urine- and saliva-based controls for drug abuse screening and confirmation testing.
The company also provides plastic disposables such as slides, tubes, petters (a transfer pipette with a bulb-like base) for use in manual microscopy urinalysis tests. Kova is headquartered in Garden Grove, California.
In 2013, an investor group led by One Rock carved out Kova International, the urinalysis division of Hycor Biomedical. In 2016, Kova added-on with the buy of Biochemical Diagnostics, a New York-based manufacturer of controls and disposable sample preparation products used in drug abuse testing.
“This transaction marks the end of a partnership between Kova and One Rock, during which we worked closely with CEO Nita Moritz and the Kova management team to enhance the company’s leadership in urinalysis and expand its product lineup into toxicology controls,” said Joshua Goldman, a partner at One Rock. “We fully expect to see Kova continue to thrive under new ownership.”
LGC Group is a provider of measurement products and services including reference materials and proficiency testing, genomics reagents, and sample analysis and interpretation. The company’s customers are active in pharmaceuticals, agricultural biotechnology, food, environment, government and academia. LGC – formerly the Laboratory of the Government Chemist – is headquartered near London in Teddington, UK. Cinven and Astorg acquired LGC in 2019 from KKR which had acquired the business in 2015 from UK-based private equity firm Bridgepoint.
Cinven invests in European and United States-based companies that have enterprise values typically greater than €300 million. Sectors of interest include business services, financial services, healthcare, industrials, consumer, and technology, media and telecommunications. The firm was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in London.
Astorg invests in European-based companies that have enterprise values from €200 million to €1 billion. The firm invests across a range of industries but has a specific interest in technology-based industrial companies, healthcare, and business-to-business professional services. Astorg has offices in Paris (headquarters) London, New York, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, and Milan.
One Rock invests in companies that are active in the manufacturing, chemicals, business services, and auto retail sectors. The firm has expertise in complex transactions including corporate carve-outs. Since its founding in 2010 by managing partners Tony Lee and Scott Spielvogel, One Rock has invested in over 35 platform investments and add-on acquisitions. In March 2021, One Rock held a hard cap and final close of One Rock Capital Partners III LP with total capital commitments of $2 billion.
Baird was the financial advisor to Kova on this transaction.
© 2023 Private Equity Professional | July 25, 2023
