Long-Term Value Creation
Our department for strategic ownerships is responsible for the Lundbeck Foundation's portfolio of long-term ownerships and for identifying and making new strategic investments.
The Foundation’s strategy is based on five value pillars, with Leading Healthcare Companies the landmark by which our Strategic Investments department steers. Our ambition is that, by 2030, we will be a significant, long-term owner of a portfolio of five to eight small- or large-scale healthcare companies, principally in Denmark, which are either global leaders or heading in that direction.
We create value when, as a competent and engaged owner, we develop and grow healthcare companies to become international market leaders within their categories.
Our ambition is that, by 2030, we will be a long-term and significant owner of a portfolio of 5-8 small or large healthcare companies, preferably in Denmark, that are international market leaders or on their way to becoming leaders.
Our aim is to develop both small- and large-scale healthcare companies and help them become global leaders. We are able to do this because we have been building up strong skills in the field of healthcare throughout the Foundation’s entire existence. Over the past decades, we have established ourselves as a competent and engaged owner – across all of the Foundation’s fields of activity – and, in close collaboration with the companies’ management teams, we play an active role in creating long-term value.
The enterprise foundation model is an incredibly strong, sustainable type of ownership that ensures long-term value creation, keeps companies in Danish hands and contributes to society by – in the case of the Lundbeck Foundation – awarding grants for public biomedical sciences research at Danish universities. We wish to spread the unique potential of the enterprise foundation model to more Danish healthcare companies with ambitions to become global leaders.
We consider that the complementary approaches of our long-term healthcare ownerships and the venture investments of Lundbeckfonden BioCapital create synergy and add value for the benefit of the Danish healthcare sector – as well as for the many patients who, ultimately, will profit from the novel treatments and solutions the companies are working hard to bring to the market.
One aspect of this is the research that is funded by the Lundbeck Foundation and in which it invests – ground-breaking research performed at Danish universities by talented researchers at all levels, from medical students to professors. Another aspect is allowing this research to benefit the many patients who need it. To achieve this, research must be commercialised to bring it out of the laboratory and home to the patient.
When the Lundbeck Foundation became the owner of ALK, it was a research company. Today, ALK is a global leader in the field of allergy therapeutics. Since its IPO in 1999, Lundbeck’s revenue has increased from DKK 4 billion to DKK 19.9 billion, and the company has a stated ambition to become a world leader in the field of brain health.
Falck is already a global leader in emergency response and has a clear ambition to become a leading operator in the field of private healthcare in the Nordic region.
At the end of 2022, the Lundbeck Foundation acquired 30% of Ferrosan Medical Devices (FeMD). This became the fourth strategic ownership in the Lundbeck Foundation. FeMD develops and produces hemostatic products used against bleeding during operations. Their products are sold globally via Ethicon (a company in the Johnson & Johnson group).
In 2023, the Lundbeck Foundation acquired 34% stake of Ellab, marking its fifth strategic ownership. Ellab is a leading international manufacturer of precision measuring equipment and analysis software for the validation and monitoring of thermal processes in the pharmaceutical, hospital, and food industries.
The aim is for the Lundbeck Foundation's portfolio of strategic ownerships to grow by adding new acquisitions. The potential is the keyword. With the right potential, we can build up companies and make them global leaders. There are therefore special traits we look for when identifying our next acquisition.
What do we look for?
Is the company a healthcare company, and does it add knowledge and value in Denmark?
Is the company leading in its field, or does it have the potential to become a leader?
Is the company able to deliver financially attractive returns that could contribute to growth in the Foundation’s net worth towards 2030?
It is also important to us that the company's culture is borne by a business owner or management team with a strong ambition to build up a healthcare company in Denmark and to transform it into a global leader – still rooted, of course, in Denmark.
