Agnellis’ Exor eyes further healthcare investment for expansion

By Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN (Reuters) -Exor the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, will seek further opportunities to expand in healthcare after investing almost one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in the industry last year, CEO John Elkann said on Monday.

After completing the sale of its reinsurer PartnerRE, Exor has around 6.5 billion euros in cash available for investments, including 5 billion euros for acquisitions.

It has already said its M&A activity would mainly focus on healthcare, luxury and technology businesses.

Last year Netherlands-based Exor bought a 10% stake in French healthcare group Institut Merieux for 833 million euros and a 45% stake in Lifenet Healthcare, an Italian company managing hospitals and outpatient clinics, for 67 million euros.

Elkann, the scion of Agnelli family, said the healthcare industry would continue to expand in the long term as the world’s population was projected to age.

He said Exor would rely on the Merieux family’s expertise as it searched “for future healthcare opportunities, in particular within the fields of genomics, proteomics, life science tools, imaging and instruments.

Through its venture capital arm Exor Ventures, Exor was also developing partnerships with healthcare companies at an early stage of their development, Elkann said.

NEW CHAIRMAN

Exor is the single largest investor in carmaker Stellantis and has controlling stakes in companies including Ferrari, CNH Industrial and soccer club Juventus.

Earlier on Monday Exor said Indian-born Ajay Banga, the U.S. nominee to run the World Bank, would not seek reappointment as its non-executive chairman and proposed Nitin Nohria for the role.

Nohria, a Harvard Business School professor with an academic focus on leadership and corporate performance, is the executive chairman of U.S. venture capital firm Thrive Capital and is a board member of companies including Anheuser-Busch InBev.

His nomination will have to be backed by shareholders at their general meeting on May 31, Exor said as it presented its full year results.

It said its profit rose to 4.227 billion euros ($4.64 billion) last year, from 1.717 billion euros in 2021 mainly due to the net gain it booked from the 8.6 billion euro sale of PartnerRe. ($1 = 0.9113 euros)

(Reporting by Giulio PiovaccariEditing by Keith Weir)