Statement from Davidson Kempner regarding Qiagen

LONDON, June 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Qiagen's Supervisory Board suffers from a lack of trust and confidence due to its history of ineffectiveness and governance concerns. This has created a credibility issue that is currently reflected in Qiagen's steep valuation discount to peers and its own historic multiples, and negatively impacts the business.

The Chairman, Lawrence Rosen, has been on the Board for eight years and has been a senior member that has presided over a series of governance failings that have negatively impacted the business and its shareholders. Elizabeth Tallet, has been on the Board for ten years and similarly with Lawrence Rosen, was intimately involved in these historic governance issues, including closely supporting the failed sales process to Thermo Fisher Scientific. By remaining on the Board, Lawrence Rosen and Elizabeth Tallet fail to take appropriate responsibility for their past failings and are preventing the process to refresh the leadership of the Supervisory Board.

The votes at yesterday's AGM are a clear signal that shareholders share our concerns. Qiagen AGMs typically record 95%+ votes in favour of the reappointment of Board members, unless there have been specific concerns. The votes for Lawrence Rosen (83.64%) and Elizabeth Tallet (61.95%) are clearly well below these historic levels of support and confirm that they do not enjoy the full support of the shareholders and that there are serious doubts about their credibility and effectiveness.

There is an urgent need to restore the credibility of shareholders in the Company by refreshing the leadership of the Supervisory Board with the appointment of a new external Chairman with a strong pedigree of leading dynamic businesses within the healthcare industry. Lawrence Rosen and Elizabeth Tallet should accordingly step down from the Supervisory Board to enable this process to commence, which is in the best interest of all the Company's stakeholders.

About Davidson Kempner

Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP is a global institutional alternative asset management firm, founded in 1983, with over 400 team members and approximately $37.7 billion in assets under management (estimate as of 1 June, 2021).

The Firm offers a number of products including the Multi-Strategy Funds, the Distressed Opportunities Funds and drawdown funds.

The Firm's investment strategies include Distressed, Merger Arbitrage, Long/Short Equities, Convertible Arbitrage and Long/Short Credit.

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Greenbrook
Andrew Honnor, Rob White, Fanni Bodri
Email: davidsonkempner@greenbrookpr.com 
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7952-2000