Qiagen Acquires Enzymes Provider Blirt to Strengthen Sample Technologies Business

QIAGEN N.V. (Venlo, Netherlands) has signed agreements to acquire a 96% majority ownership stake in BLIRT S.A. (Gdansk, Poland), a manufacturer of recombinant enzymes for the life science industry.

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. QIAGEN is a global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. QIAGEN’s sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA and proteins from blood, tissue and other materials.

Image: QIAGEN has acquired a majority stake in enzymes provider BLIRT S.A. (Photo courtesy of QIAGEN)

“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. “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.”

“Over recent years, we have intensively grown our business: we have invested, observed trends and found new markets," said Marian Popinigis, CEO of BLIRT S.A. "Thanks to QIAGEN, the growth of BLIRT will accelerate. First and foremost, the scale of operations will increase, and our employees will become part of a global team. We accepted QIAGEN's offer because it would benefit everyone involved: both companies, customers, distributors and employees. I am confident that we will observe positive synergy effects from the joint operations of QIAGEN and BLIRT in the upcoming years. This will create exciting new possibilities. Among other things, customers will have access to a broader offer, and employees will take advantage of new career options."

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QIAGEN N.V.
BLIRT S.A.