Abu Dhabi Wealth Fund Mubadala Expanding With Investment in Germany’s Evotec

Farah Elbahrawy

13 Oct 2020, 10:17 PM IST

(Bloomberg) -- Mubadala Investment Co. will invest 200 million euros ($235 million) in German pharmaceutical company Evotec SE as part of the Abu Dhabi wealth fund’s plans to expand its portfolio.

Mubadala, which manages $232 billion in assets, is among Gulf sovereign funds plowing their oil and natural gas wealth into technology to lessen their reliance on crude and help diversify their economies. The fund has said over the past few years that it’s looking to boost its investments in technology.

It will subscribe to 9.2 million Evotec shares, taking about a 5.6% stake in a private placement, according to a statement. The shares were sold at 21.78 euros, a 3.4% discount to Evotec’s Oct. 12 close of 22.55 euros.

Novo Holdings will also invest 50 million euros to subscribe to 2.3 million shares in the company at the same price, taking its stake to about 11%. Evotec rose 2.4% to 23.10 euros on Tuesday.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:
“Investments by Mubadala and Novo Holdings validate our positive long-term outlook for Evotec and its hybrid strategy. As well as boosting its financial flexibility, the 250 million euros generated by the deals could enable the company to accelerate efforts within its co-owned drug pipeline, multi-modality discovery platforms and biologics manufacturing.” -- Michael Shah, BI pharma analyst

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

“Investments by Mubadala and Novo Holdings validate our positive long-term outlook for Evotec and its hybrid strategy. As well as boosting its financial flexibility, the 250 million euros generated by the deals could enable the company to accelerate efforts within its co-owned drug pipeline, multi-modality discovery platforms and biologics manufacturing.”

-- Michael Shah, BI pharma analyst

Last month, Mubadala bought a stake of about 5% in private equity firm Silver Lake and said it would invest $2 billion in a technology fund run by the firm. Earlier this year, it joined regional and global investors that poured billions of dollars into the telecommunications and digital services business controlled by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.