BB MEDTECH: Strong performance in the second quarter, exchange offer
to the shareholders
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Corporate news announcement processed and transmitted by Hugin AS.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Interim Report as at June 30, 2009The Net Asset Value of BB MEDTECH increased 9% during the secondquarter and its share price gained an even greater 17% as thefinancial market reacted to the announcement by BB MEDTECH's Board ofDirectors at the general meeting on March 30, 2009 that it wasreviewing all possible means of reducing the discount. The discountdeclined from 18% to 13% during the second quarter. As a result ofthe review a friendly share exchange offer to the shareholders of BBMEDTECH AG was announced on July 7, 2009 that would convertBB MEDTECH AG into an investment fund. The product's successfulinvestment strategy would be retained within the scope of the legalguidelines for investment funds under Luxembourg law. Additionalinformation on the share exchange offer can be found atwww.med-transaktion.ch. The Board of Directors of BB MEDTECH AGrecommends shareholders accept this offer. Martin Bisang, ErnstThomke und Hans-Jörg Graf, the three largest shareholders of BBMEDTECH AG, have already tendered their shares.The first half of 2009 was generally characterized by choppy marketmoves on the up and downside worldwide but the value ofBB MEDTECH shares was steadily maintained, closing the period with again of 4.2% (including dividends) to CHF 40.85 whereas the SMIretreated -2.4% and the DAX was practically unchanged at midyear. TheNet Asset Value per share rose by 4.6% to CHF 46.68 during the firsthalf. Shareholders' equity (excluding treasury shares) amounted toCHF 532 mn as of June 30, 2009. Most of our participationscontributed to the strong performance in the second quarter,especially our core holdings Qiagen and Mindray, but even our smallerpositions such as Epigenomics and Axis-Shield performed well. On thenegative side, Masimo's value declined after delivering a strongperformance in the first quarter as investors began to worry that,despite Masimo's innovation leadership and growing market share, thecompany's growth would slow as hospitals tightened their budgets.We continued to implement our strategy of broadening and diversifyingour portfolio with the aim of holding long-term investments in 10 to15 attractive medical technology companies in Europe, North Americaand selected regional growth markets worldwide. Further adjustmentswere, therefore, also made to the portfolio in the second quarter of2009 as positions were taken in fast growing companies such as MyriadGenetics in the field of molecular diagnostics, Hologic in digitalmammography and Shangdong Weigao in the fast growing Chinese market.Our small position in Axis-Shield was increased in the second quarterwhile the position in Optos was closed. We took profits in ourlong-term investments Tecan and Qiagen in the wake of their goodstock-market performance. Our equity interest in Tecan was reduced to7% by the end of the second quarter (9% as of March 31, 2009) and ourinterest in Qiagen was reduced to 14% (20% as of March 31, 2009). Asof June 30, 71% of BB MEDTECH's portfolio assets were invested, whichreflects both the uncertain market environment as well as ourintention of accumulating liquidity to further diversify theportfolio.The dominant topic in the medical technology sector today - for bothinvestors and the companies themselves - is healthcare reform in theUSA. Most market participants expect US healthcare reform to besigned into law before the end of 2009. This reform will give manymore Americans access to health insurance coverage. It is stilluncertain what shape reform will take, how it will be implemented andhow the potentially huge increase in costs will be financed.Pharmaceutical and hospital industry representatives have alreadysigned an agreement with the administration to provide savings of USD80 bn and USD 150 bn, respectively, although these sums do notrepresent actual spending cuts but rather the envisioned reduction inthe projected uptrend in healthcare costs over the next 10 years. Theimplications for the medical technology sector are not entirely clearbecause its products and services cannot be easily isolated fromother healthcare expenditures. We note that the US federal budgetstill calls for a solid increase in spending on healthcare despiteall the cost-savings measures anticipated in the coming years. Thissuggests that the growth outlook for the relevant companies isabsolutely intact.We expect that increasing the efficiency of the healthcare sectorwill be the key topic during the coming years since only bymaximizing efficiency the constantly growing demand for healthcarecan be financed in the long run without depriving the broaderpopulation of essential healthcare services. Molecular diagnostics ispaving the way toward personalized medicine and is thus predestinedto benefit from this enduring future trend. Early detection ofdisease and individualized treatment regimens translate into bettertreatment outcomes at acceptable costs. Highly innovative companiesoffering efficient treatment regimens can expect to make significantgains in market share.These factors bolster our conviction that the medical technologymarket, driven as it is by demographics and other forces, offersinvestors above-average gains in the long run and that we willcontinue to generate an excess return for our shareholders in thelong term, as we have clearly succeeded in doing in the past: BBMEDTECH shares have gained +112% in value during the period fromearly 2000 to the end of June 2009 (incl. dividend payouts).The composition of BB MEDTECH's portfolio is the following (in % ofequity, rounded values):+-------------------------------------------------------------------+| | | As at | | As at July || | | June 30, | | 28, 2009 || | | 2009 | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Qiagen | | 14.0% | | 14.3% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Fresenius preferred | | 11.8% | | 11.3% || shares | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Fresenius common | | 2.6% | | 2.5% || shares | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Mindray | | 7.0% | | 7.7% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Tecan | | 6.7% | | 5.8% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Illumina | | 6.7% | | 6.3% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Masimo | | 5.9% | | 6.0% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Epigenomics | | 3.8% | | 3.9% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Galenica | | 3.3% | | 3.5% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Celera | | 3.2% | | 2.5% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Carl Zeiss Meditec | | 2.6% | | 2.5% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Axis-Shield | | 1.5% | | 1.5% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Myriad Genetics | | 1.4% | | 1.1% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Hologic | | 0.6% | | 0.6% ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Shandong Weigao | | 0.2% | | 0.3% || Group Medical | | | | || Polymer | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| SWAP agreement on | | <0.1% | | <0.1% || treasury shares | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Tecan call option | | (0.1%) | | - || (short) | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Total securities | CHF | 71.2% | CHF | 69.8% || | 379.1 mn | | 366.4 | || | | | mn | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Liquid funds (net) | CHF | 27.3% | CHF | 28.8% || | 145.0 mn | | 151.0 | || | | | mn | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Other assets | CHF 9.2 | 1.7% | CHF 8.9 | 1.7% || | mn | | mn | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Other payables | CHF | (0.2%) | CHF | (0.2%) || | (1.2) mn | | (1.3) | || | | | mn | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Total shareholders' | CHF | 100.0% | CHF | 100.00% || equity | 532.1 mn | | 525.0 | || | | | mn | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| Own shares (in % of | | 12.7% | | 12.7% || company) | | | | ||----------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------|| | | | | |+-------------------------------------------------------------------+The Interim Report as at June 30, 2009 is available onwww.bbmedtech.comFor further information please contact:Bellevue Asset Management AG, Seestrasse 16, CH-8700 Kusnacht/ZurichThomas Egger or Anja Stubenrauch, phone +41 44 267 67 00Company profileBB MEDTECH acquires shares in companies in the growth market ofmedical technology. BB MEDTECH is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchangeand in Germany. The focus of the shareholdings is on listed companiesin Europe and North America that are taking on a market leadershiprole in their area of activities and demonstrate sustained turnoverand income potential. For its selection of holdings, BB MEDTECHrelies on fundamental analysis by industry experts. The Board ofDirectors has many years of industrial and scientific experiencebehind it.http://hugin.info/130286/R/1331535/315083.pdf --- End of Message ---BB MEDTECH AGVordergasse 3 Schaffhausen SwitzerlandWKN: AONFN4; ISIN: CH0038390016; Index: IGSP;Listed: Investment Companies in SIX Swiss Exchange;
Datum: 30.07.2009 - 07:30 Uhr
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