A high-profile US life sciences investor has taken a 3 per cent stake in Penarth-based EKF Diagnostics Holdings.
Ron Zwanziger, the former chief executive of US diagnostics giant Alere, bought the shares in AIM-listed EKF through his family investment vehicle, Zwanziger Family Ventures.
Alere is a US distributor of the diabetes and molecular diagnostics company EKF's haemoglobin testing product HemoPoint H2.
It is the second time Zwanziger has backed Julian Baines, EKF chief executive and Welsh life sciences entrepreneur. In 2008, Alere – then called Inverness Medical Innovations – acquired Baines' AIM-listed healthcare business BBI Holdings for £83.7m.
Zwanziger founded Alere in 1981 and headed up the group before resigning in July this year (2014). Alere is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is valued at about $3.3bn (£2.1bn).
EKF recently reported its first-half revenue was up by more than 12 per cent to £16.8m as point-of-care product sales climbed and the business completed three acquisitions.