Sweden's Investor AB to buy Advanced Instruments in $780 million deal

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Investor AB's <INVEb.ST> Patricia Industries has agreed to buy United States-based Advanced Instruments, a provider of scientific and analytical instruments, from Windjammer Capital at an enterprise value of $780 million (606.15 million pounds).

Patricia Industries will inject about $620 million in equity while the rest will be financed through external debt and equity investment by key employees at Advanced Instruments, Investor AB said in a statement.

Advanced Instruments, a global provider of testing instrumentation and consumables for the clinical, biopharmaceutical and food and beverage markets, had sales of $72 million in the 12 months to June 30.

Swedish investment company Investor AB said that while the COVID-19 pandemic had hit sales and profitability in the second quarter, Advanced Instruments had shown resilience with an EBITDA margin of about 45%.

"Advanced Instruments has a compelling financial profile with high growth and profitability, strong cash flow generation, and a large share of recurring revenue. We believe that Advanced Instruments is a great addition to Patricia Industries," said Investor AB Chief Executive Johan Forssell.

Investor AB, the biggest stakeholder of which is the Wallenberg Foundations, said it expects the transaction to close during the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm; Editing by David Goodman)