What now for Cerba?
Following months of speculation, the fate of French laboratory network Cerba appears to have been settled at long last. Owners PAI Partners have agreed to sell the group to private equity firm Partners Group and pension fund PSP. But what will happen to Cerba once it changes hands?
We understand from sources in the industry that Catherine Courboillet, Cerba’s CEO, has big plans for the company now. One operator in France even said she was “a bit of a Gilles Martin” – though Cerba is very far from pan-European lab giant Eurofins’ position as diversified consolidator.
But it has started down that path and this deal may help it continue on that journey. Cerba has already begun to dip its toe and testing equipment into other areas, as evidenced by its launch of a veterinary testing subsidiary last year and its acquisition of Menalabs, a UAE medical biology group.
One thing which is clear, for now at least, is that the much-vaunted suggestion of a Unilabs-Cerba merger is now dead, though Apax (like Cinven not that long ago) must have considered the idea due to the complementarity of the two assets.
It is possible that that Cerba didn’t particularly want to develop as part of another lab chain, especially one as different as Unilabs. But the countinuing consolidation of this fragmented sector will continue and we expect the emergence of more SYNLAB-style groups in the future.
In the meantime though, Cerba may look to strengthen its position and look to become a major player in the high-growth areas of genomics and veterinary testing.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Ariane Jugieux or call 0207 183 3779.