Developer Kadans Science Partner which is looking to invest in Oxford has been acquired by AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets.
Kadans which develops, owns and operates science parks across Europe including Babraham Research Campus in Cambridge, focuses on the life sciences sector.
Axa IM – Real Assets, which also operates across the continent, will work alongside the existing Kadans management who will retain a minority stake.
The acquisition is conditional on German merger commission approval.
John O’Driscoll, head of European transactions at AXA IM – Real Assets, said: “This is a significant transaction for AXA IM – Real Assets as it allows us to enter a high conviction sector at scale.
“Kadans is a clear market leader in the life science and lab offices sector and the acquisition provides us with a unique opportunity to access a fully integrated platform comprising an existing operational portfolio and an extensive development pipeline together with a management team with unrivalled operational expertise.
“In what is an emerging but fast-growing sector in Europe, our aim is to work with Michel Leemhuis and his team to accelerate the expansion of the Kadans platform across Europe.”
Mr Leemhuis, chief executive of Kadans, said: “For many years Kadans has accommodated knowledge-intensive enterprises throughout Europe, based upon our strong belief that the expansion of knowledge is an important driver of economic growth in Europe.
“The ecosystems we develop therefore, aim to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing.”
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