Ratos’s subsidiary Sophion Holding AB has entered into an agreement to divest all of its shares in Sophion Bioscience A/S to Sapphire Bioscience Holding ApS, a newly established company controlled by Thais Johansen, CEO of Sophion Bioscience A/S. The sale is not expected to generate any significant exit results for Ratos.

Sophion Bioscience previously formed one of two business areas in Ratos’s subsidiary Biolin Scientific, the second of which, Analytical Instruments, was divested in December 2016. Following the divestment of Analytical Instruments, Sophion Bioscience has been operated as an independent company in Ratos and recognised in other net assets in the Ratos Group. Sophion Bioscience is a Danish manufacturer in the area of Automated Patch Clamping (APC), and markets instruments, test plates and support services. Customers include most major pharmaceutical companies.

Given Thais Johansen’s position as CEO of Sophion Bioscience, the transfer of shares is covered by Chapter 16 of the Swedish Companies Act (so-called Leo provisions) and is thus conditional upon the approval of Ratos’s general meeting of shareholders. The purchase price for all shares in Sophion Bioscience is SEK 60m. The company currently has about 50 employees and annual sales of approximately SEK 100m. In recent years, the company has reported a declining earnings trend and operating EBITA amounted to approximately SEK -0.6m in 2016.

The divestment is not expected to generate any significant exit results for Ratos.

Notification of the Extraordinary General Meeting, scheduled to be held in June, will be published in accordance with the provisions of the Swedish Companies Act.

For further information, please contact:
Magnus Agervald, CEO Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98

– See more at: http://ratos.se/en/Press/Press-releases/2017/Ratos-AB-Ratos-divests-Sophion-Bioscience/#sthash.LRZ5sWTg.dpuf