• Chr. Hansen to sell its Natural Colors business, the leading global developer and manufacturer of natural coloring ingredients for food and beverages, to EQT IX

• Natural Colors’ underlying market is supported by favorable secular megatrends, such as increasing consumer awareness around health and the environment, the ongoing transition from synthetic coloring components to natural ingredients, and a growing demand for sustainable and plant-based food

• EQT plans to invest significantly in Natural Colors’ organization and strengthen its digital infrastructure, sustainability capabilities and supply chain setup. EQT will support organic growth in Natural Colors’ existing markets and acquisitive expansion in the highly fragmented food coloring market
• Natural Colors is expected to leverage on EQT’s inhouse expertise within digitalization and sustainability, and EQT’s global advisory network, which possesses significant experience from developing strong ingredient companies

Chr. Hansen Holding A/S (“Chr. Hansen”) and the EQT IX fund today announced that EQT has agreed to acquire the Natural Colors Division (“Natural Colors” or “the Company”), a subsidiary of Chr. Hansen, the global bioscience leader and developer of natural solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. The purchase price amounts to EUR 800 million.

Headquartered in Hørsholm, Denmark, Natural Colors is the leading developer and manufacturer of natural coloring ingredients, serving over 1,600 customers in the food and beverages (F&B) industry. The Company is the global leader in the natural colorants industry in terms of innovation, application, formulation, product portfolio breadth and geographical reach. The Natural Colors Division employs approximately 650 people and has grown organically by around 9 percent per annum during the past five years up to 2018/19. The Company generated sales of EUR 224 million in 2018/19.

Natural Colors’ products are made from all-natural fruit and vegetable concentrates from sweet potatoes, grape skin, spirulina, carrots and beetroots. The products are primarily used within F&B applications where the conversion from artificial to natural colorants is highest, such as dairy- and fruit preparations, confectionary, ice cream, prepared foods and beverages.

Natural Colors’ underlying market is supported by favorable secular megatrends, such as increasing consumer awareness around health and the environment, the ongoing transition from synthetic components to natural ingredients, and a growing demand for sustainable and plant-based food. The Company’s solutions contribute to society and support several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production): via R&D into higher crop yields, use of renewable resources such as grape skin. SDG 13 (Climate Action): via a ‘Go Green’ project to make energy and CO2 improvements, using science-based targets.

EQT intends to build on the existing strategy of continued organic growth in current markets with a focus on the US and Asia. EQT will also support acquisitive expansion within the highly fragmented foods coloring market by utilizing the Natural Colors platform for industry consolidation. Moreover, EQT plans to invest significantly in the Company’s organization and strengthen its digital infrastructure, sustainability capabilities and supply chain setup. Natural Colors is expected to leverage on EQT’s inhouse expertise within digitalization and sustainability, and EQT’s global advisory network, which possesses significant experience from developing strong ingredient companies.

Mauricio Graber, CEO of Chr. Hansen, commented: “The divestment of the Natural Colors Division completes the Review part of our recently launched 2025 Strategy. Chr. Hansen can now focus on fulfilling the ambition of becoming a pure-play, microbial and fermentation company with industry leading, profitable growth. I am convinced EQT will be a great owner of the Natural Colors business which has a leading global position in the industry. During the process it has become clear that EQT showed the strongest conviction in the potential of the business, and the highest dedication to the future development of it. I want to thank all the employees of the Natural Colors business for their contribution to Chr. Hansen over many years and wish them all the best in the future journey as an independent company.”

Mads Ditlevsen, Partner at EQT Partners, and Investment Advisor to EQT IX, commented: “We are immensely proud and humble of having been chosen as the future owner of Natural Colors. It is a high-quality and truly global business with a proud legacy of servicing customers all over the world for more than 100 years. We are highly impressed by the strong ESG profile, the high-quality organization and talented people we have met during this process, as well as the dedicated focus on food safety. Natural Colors fits very well with EQT’s thematic investment criteria and is operating in two of EQT IX’s five prioritized sub-sectors within Industrial Technology. EQT’s ambition is to help the business achieve further growth both organically and through acquisitions.”

Klaus Bjerrum, Executive Vice President of Natural Colors Division, said: “I am very pleased to announce EQT as the new owner of Chr. Hansen’s Natural Colors Division. EQT has acquired our great business (pending closing) to grow it organically and inorganically based on our capabilities and organization, and not least our leading market position. It is my conviction that this marks a new and exciting chapter for us, and I am excited to embark on this journey with EQT and all our talented employees around the world.”

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals. It is expected to close in H1 2021.

Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor, Gorrissen Federspiel as legal advisor, Baker McKenzie as legal advisor and Deloitte as M&A transaction services, tax and carve-out advisor to Chr. Hansen. J.P. Morgan and Nordea acted as financial advisors, Accura as legal advisor, PWC as M&A transaction services, tax and carve-out advisor and Boston Consulting Group as commercial advisor to EQT.

With this transaction, EQT IX is expected to be 15-20 percent invested, based on its target fund size.

Contact
Camilla Lercke, Head of Media Relations, Chr. Hansen, +45 5339 2384
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com

About Chr. Hansen
Chr. Hansen is a leading, global bioscience company that develops natural ingredient solutions for the food, nutritional, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. We develop and produce cultures, enzymes, probiotics and natural colors for a rich variety of foods, confectionery, beverages, dietary supplements and even animal feed and plant protection. Our product innovation is based on around 40,000 microbial strains – we like to refer to them as ‘good bacteria’. Our solutions enable food manufacturers to produce more with less – while also reducing the use of chemicals and other synthetic additives – which make our products highly relevant in today’s world. Sustainability is an integral part of Chr. Hansen’s vision to improve food and health. In 2019 Chr. Hansen was ranked as the world’s most sustainable company by Corporate Knights thanks to our strong sustainability efforts and our many collaborative partnerships with our customers. We have been delivering value to our partners – and, ultimately, end consumers worldwide – for over 140 years. We are proud that more than one billion people consume products containing our natural ingredients every day.

More info: www.chr-hansen.com/en

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
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• Multi-year strategic collaboration in target discovery and therapeutic development based on Scenic Biotech’s disease modifying approach
• Utilises Scenic’s unique Cell-Seq platform and its proprietary data warehouse of genetic modifiers
• Scenic Biotech will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties across multiple products meeting certain pre-defined conditions

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 20, 2020 – Scenic Biotech BV (“Scenic”), a pioneer in the discovery of genetic modifiers to enable the development of disease modifying therapeutics for rare genetic disorders and other devastating illnesses, today announced that it has entered into a multi-year strategic collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to discover, develop and commercialize novel therapeutics that target genetic modifiers.

Genetic modifiers are genes that counteract the effect of a disease-causing gene. They may explain why some people with genetic mutations linked to severe disease end up having only mild or no symptoms. Also known as disease suppressors, genetic modifiers therefore positively influence the severity of disease and act as a ‘natural form of protection’. Their discovery is leading to a completely new class of drug targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Scenic will utilize its Cell-Seq platform and its data warehouse of genetic modifiers to identify drug targets in multiple therapeutic areas. The collaboration enables Genentech to select multiple targets for further development with an option to extend the collaboration. Scenic will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible to receive additional target selection fees for drug targets taken forward by Genentech. In addition, Scenic is eligible for success-based payments for each target based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones, as well as royalties on sales of certain products resulting from the collaboration. Total deal value could exceed US $375M.

Scenic has built an extensive proprietary data warehouse of genetic modifiers and its Cell-Seq platform enables the development of potential disease modifying therapeutics for devastating diseases with an in-house focus on inherited rare diseases and immuno-oncology/inflammation.

The Company was founded in 2017 as a spin-out of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and Oxford University and recently appointed Oscar Izeboud, PhD as its Chief Executive Officer.

Dr Sebastian Nijman, Co-founder and CSO of Scenic Biotech said:

“Genentech is the pioneer in innovative biotech and has world leading research and development capabilities. Scenic is a science-driven company and having Genentech as our first major industry partner is a great validation of our technology and by working together it will extend the utility of our platform beyond our current therapeutic areas of interest. The collaboration also brings significant strategic value for Scenic as it enables us to realise the potential of our genetic modifier expertise alongside independently advancing our own programs towards clinical development.”

About Scenic Biotech

Scenic Biotech is focused on identifying genetic modifiers, a completely new class of disease targets, for drug intervention. Also known as disease suppressors, genetic modifiers are genes that act to suppress or completely block the effect of a disease-causing mutated gene.

As a pioneer in the field, Scenic Biotech is building the largest proprietary data warehouse of genetic modifiers and has already identified a number of novel genetic modifiers for over a dozen inherited diseases. This approach is enabling the development of disease modifying therapeutics for devastating diseases including inherited rare diseases and cancer.

Scenic Biotech is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Company was founded in 2017 as a spin-out of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and Oxford University, backed by a Dutch-UK syndicate of Venture Capital investors that include BioGeneration Ventures, Inkef Capital, and Oxford Sciences Innovation.

Scenic Biotech refers to all companies within the Scenic group, comprising Scenic Holding BV and its two fully owned subsidiary companies: Scenic Immunology BV and Scenic Biotech BV.

For further information please visit: www.scenicbiotech.com

Crossover Financing to Advance Clinical Development of Central Nervous System Assets in Migraine, Parkinson’s Disease and Acute Agitation

SEATTLE, Dec. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Impel NeuroPharma (“Impel” or the “Company”), a Seattle-based, privately-held biotechnology company focused on developing therapies for the treatment of central nervous system (“CNS”) disorders with unmet medical needs, today announced that it has completed a Series D financing totaling $67,500,000. The investment is co-led by KKR and Norwest Venture Partners (“Norwest”), with participation from existing investors, Vivo Capital, 5AM Ventures and venBio Partners.

In connection with the financing Dr. Robert Mittendorff, Partner at Norwest, and Ali Satvat, Member at KKR, will join the Impel Board of Directors.

This financing will enable Impel to accelerate its existing clinical development portfolio in CNS disorders. Impel is currently investigating three programs leveraging its novel Precision Olfactory Delivery, or POD®, device technology: INP104 in a Phase 3 trial for the treatment of acute migraine headache, INP103 in a Phase 2 trial for the reversal of OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease and INP105 in a Phase 1 trial for the treatment of acute agitation in bipolar I and schizophrenia disorders.

“We are delighted to have the support of this exceptional group of both new and existing investors. Dr. Mittendorff and Mr. Satvat will be tremendous assets as new members of Impel’s Board of Directors and we believe that this investment is a testament to the strength of our POD® technology, our clinical programs and our management team,” said Jon Congleton, Chief Executive Officer of Impel. “With three product candidates progressing through various stages of clinical development in 2018, it has been an exciting year for Impel, and this financing confirms the value that we are generating with our clinical programs.”

“We are excited to have co-led this financing round with KKR and look forward to helping Impel reach its goals as the Company progresses the development of these novel investigative therapies,” said Dr. Mittendorff. “Norwest shares in Impel’s belief that the Company’s pipeline has the potential to bring important new treatments to the market for the CNS community.”

“We are thrilled to contribute to the development of innovative solutions that may enhance the lives of patients with CNS disorders,” said Mr. Satvat. “Impel’s proprietary, novel platform has the potential to transform intranasal drug delivery, significantly improving the range of treatment options for people living with acute migraine, acute agitation and Parkinson’s disease.”

About Impel NeuroPharma
Impel NeuroPharma, Inc., is a privately-held, Seattle-based biotechnology company devoted to creating life-changing, innovative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Impel NeuroPharma is currently investigating INP104 (POD-DHE) for acute migraine headache, INP103 (POD-levodopa) for reversal of OFF episodes in Parkinson’s disease and INP105 (POD-olanzapine) for acute agitation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Impel’s products utilize its novel, nasal drug-delivery Precision Olfactory Delivery, or POD™, device technology to deliver liquid or dry powder forms of drug to the upper nasal cavity in a consistent and predictable manner.

IMPEL, POD and the IMPEL Logo are trademarks of Impel NeuroPharma, Inc. To learn more about Impel NeuroPharma, please visit our website at http://impelnp.com.

About Precision Olfactory Delivery™ or POD™ Devices
Impel NeuroPharma’s proprietary POD™ intranasal drug delivery device is designed to deliver drugs to the richly-vascularized upper nasal cavity to achieve superior biodistribution and bioavailability of both small molecules and biologic drugs. By consistently and predictably delivering therapeutics to the upper nasal cavity, the POD nasal delivery device may improve overall bioavailability of drugs. The POD device also has the potential for nose-to-brain delivery via the olfactory and trigeminal nerves. Impel has developed dry powder and liquid compatible POD devices to improve upon current treatment options for central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Contact:
Melyssa Weible
Elixir Health Public Relations
Ph: (1) 201-723-5805
E: mweible@elixirhealthpr.com