UPDATE 1-Omers Infra, Goldman to buy German labs group Amedes

(Changes sourcing)

By Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT, July 30 (Reuters) - German laboratory group Amedes said on Friday it will be acquired by a consortium that includes Canada's Omers Infrastructure and Goldman Sachs Asset Management for an undisclosed sum.

The deal could be valued at 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) including debt, two people close to the matter told Reuters.

The consortium also includes asset manager AXA Investment Managers, which will be acting on behalf of its clients.

Amedes' majority owner, French infrastructure investor Antin, had earlier this year put up for sale the company whose business boomed in the COVID-19 pandemic. Antin bought Amedes in 2015 from buyout group General Atlantic at a valuation of about 800 million euros.

The company processes polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the novel coronavirus, as well a wide variety of medical tests for patients, doctors and hospitals, including oncological, genetic, microbiological and pathological tests.

Amedes has annual core earnings of more than 100 million euros. Rivals such as Synlab, Sonic, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp trade at 7-9 times their expected core earnings. The sale to Omers Infra implies a significantly higher multiple for Amedes.

Amedes operates laboratories at 90 sites in Austria, Belgium and Dubai, as well as Germany, employing about 4,000 staff and treating 450,000 patients a year.

It was founded in 1987 and has grown through a string of acquisitions.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

($1 = 0.8407 euros) (Reporting by Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt and Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shailesh Kuber)