Milbank LLP acted as English restructuring and global antitrust counsel to Roche in its transaction to acquire LumiraDx group’s Point of Care technology, an innovative diagnostics platform. Roche signed an agreement to acquire the LumiraDx group’s Point of Care platform business as part of a pre-packaged English administration sale, which was negotiated in the months leading up to the appointment of administrators at LumiraDx’s English parent company on 29 December 2023. The transaction earned the full support of LumiraDx group’s senior secured lender. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2024, following satisfaction of certain conditions, including antitrust and regulatory approvals.
Roche is one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies and a leader in in-vitro diagnostics, having been founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines. LumiraDx group is a next-generation point of care diagnostics company that has sought to transform community-based healthcare since its founding in 2014 by consolidating multiple Point of Care tests on a single instrument.
The Milbank restructuring team advising Roche included partners Sarah Levin and Sinjini Saha, counsel Nicholas Crossin and associate Rajpreet Lachhar. The Milbank antitrust team included partners Alexander Rinne and Andrea Hamilton, counsel Moritz Lichtenegger and associate Jan Maas.
The transaction represents an innovative use of English pre-packaged administration sales to carry out the carve-out of an entire business unit from a complex corporate group and required worldwide coordination across practice areas. Milbank advised Roche alongside Davis Polk & Wardwell, who are lead English and New York counsel on the transaction. Maples Group advised Roche on additional corporate matters.
