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Company Sale
24.10.18

Proventis exclusively advised the shareholders of opTricon GmbH on the sale to Chembio, a US-based listed diagnostics manufacturer

Munich, 24 October 2018 – Chembio, a leading point-of-care diagnostics company focused on infectious diseases, and the shareholders of opTricon GmbH, a privately-held developer and manufacturer of hand-held analyzers for rapid diagnostic tests, signed a definitive agreement to acquire all shares in opTricon GmbH in an all-cash deal for 5.5 million USD. The transaction is expected to close on October 31, 2018, subject to standard closing conditions.

Transaction background

Since 2015, Chembio and opTricon have collaborated to develop the DPP® Micro Reader, a hand-held, battery-operated analyzer that uses an innovative image sensor to provide a quantitative interpretation of diagnostic results when combined with Chembio’s proprietary DPP® tests. Located in Berlin’s Science & Technology Park, opTricon will becomeChembio’s Center-of- Excellence for optical technology and serve as Chembio’s European headquarters. As part of itsongoing business, opTricon will continue to develop and manufacture hand-held analyzers for OEM customers which do not compete with Chembio.

Role of Proventis Partners

Proventis Partners advised the shareholders and opTricon GmbH during all stages of the crossborder transaction. The scope of the project included the advice during the early commercial negotiations up to the management of the entire sales process of the company to a US listed buyer in a market environment with demanding regulatory and IP requirements.

Representing both the founders and the financial investors, Ventegis Capital and IBB Be- teiligungsgesellschaft from Berlin, Proventis always had a special focus on the alignment of interests of all shareholders during all stages of the transaction.

This deal is the next milestone in building the healthcare practice group within Proventis Partners, after Jens Peter Wartmann has joined the company in August of this year. The transaction was led by Jan Poerschmann, Managing Partner, and Florian Liepert, Director.

About opTricon GmbH

Founded in Berlin in 2005, opTricon Entwicklungsgesellschaft fUr optische Technologien mbH develops and produces optical system solutions for medical engineering and diagnostics applications. Its product group includes mobile optical analysis devices for point-of-care diagnostics, optical components and systems for signal transmission and optical sensors, and sensors and systems used for measuring and evaluating biological and chemical processes, as well as processchanges. The company’s products are used in such areas as optical data transmission and detection of light signals for medical engineering, bioanalytics, and signal transmission applications.

About Chembio Diagnostics, Inc.

Chembio is a leading point-of-care diagnostics company focused on detecting and diagnosing infectious diseases. The company’s patented DPP® technology platform, which uses a small drop of blood from the fingertip, provides high-quality, cost-effective results in ~15 minutes. Coupled with Chembio’s extensive scientific expertise, its novel DPP® technology offers broad market applications beyond infectious disease, a number of which are under active development with collaboration partners. Chembio’s products are sold globally, directly and through distributors, to hospitals and clinics, physician offices, clinical laboratories, public health organizations, government agencies, and consumers.

About Proventis Partners

Proventis Partners is a partner-managed mid-market M&A-advisory boutique, whose main clients comprises corporations, family businesses and private equity funds. Proventis Partners is active in the sectors Healthcare, Energy, TMT, Industrials, Consumer and Retail. Besides the five offices in Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Budapest and Zurich, Proventis Partners maintains a qualified partner network in Europe, Asia, and the United States.