Common Shares

Market Environment

Stock markets globally moved up in 2020 despite the macro economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and against a strong performance in 2019. In reaction to the onset of the pandemic, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank initiated monetary policies to mitigate the economic uncertainty and also signaled interest rates will remain low to support economic recovery in the midterm. Other governments and central banks around the globe have taken steps to provide substantial stimulus measures to counter the negative economic impact of pandemic related shutdowns and restrictions. Markets rebounded during the second half after the initial steep decline amid encouraging signs of a vaccine and a potential rebound of sectors most negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Market benchmarks for the year were solid in 2020. The S&P 500 index in the United States finished up 16.3% in 2020. The DAX index of the 30 largest companies in Germany rose 3.5% during the year, and Germany’s TecDAX, of which QIAGEN is a member, improved by 6.6% for the year.

Global Shares Listed in the U.S. and Europe

QIAGEN’s global shares have been registered and traded in the United States since 1996, trading on the New York Stock Exchange since January 10, 2018, after listing for more than 20 years on NASDAQ markets. The global shares also have traded in Germany on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 1997, and the Prime Standard segment since its launch in 2003. The dual listing of global shares on NYSE and the Frankfurt exchange offers advantages for QIAGEN, our shareholders and employees, increasing the potential market opportunity to attract investors, particularly those in the U.S. that can only invest in U.S. dollar-denominated investments, and enhances liquidity. Unlike American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), QIAGEN’s global shares provide equal rights for all shareholders and can be traded on either exchange, in U.S. dollars or euros.

Share Price and Liquidity

QIAGEN’s share price varied widely in 2020, increasing 56.4% in U.S. dollars to $52.85 on the NYSE and rising 39.4% in euros to EUR 42.45 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (XETRA). Our shares continued to offer high liquidity, with average daily trading volume of approximately three million shares in 2020 (two million on the NYSE and other U.S. trading venues, and about one million on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (XETRA) and other German exchanges). QIAGEN continued its commitment to disciplined capital allocation and shareholder returns. In 2020, QIAGEN repurchased 1.3 million shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, under a program announced in May 2019. This program ended December 17, 2020. Since 2019, a total of 3.3 million shares were repurchased for a total of EUR 118.9 million at the times of purchases. As of December 31, 2020, the free float, which affects weighting of QIAGEN shares in various indices, was approximately 99%.

Shareholder Structure

QIAGEN has a global investor base comprised of more than 300 identified institutional investors, including about half in North America, about one-third in Europe and the remaining shares in the Asia-Pacific/Japan region. Members of the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board, in total, own less than 1% of QIAGEN’s outstanding common shares at the end of 2020.

Annual Shareholder Meeting

At the Annual General Meeting on June 30, 2020, in Venlo, the Netherlands, shareholders voted on a number of annually recurring items as well as a number of items relating to the offer of acquisition by Thermo Fisher. Many of the annually recurring items were approved with majorities above 95% of the shares represented at the meeting. Shareholders present or represented at the meeting held approximately 142.2 million shares, 61.6% of QIAGEN’s approximately 230.8 million issued shares as of the record date for the meeting. Details of attendance and voting results are available at https://corporate.QIAGEN.com.

Investor Relations and Engagement with Shareholders

QIAGEN is committed to offering shareholders, analysts and communities around the world transparent, comprehensive and readily accessible information on our performance, strategy and future prospects, as well as our vision and mission.

Interactions with existing and potential investors ramped up after the August announcement that Thermo Fisher did not achieve the minimum acceptance threshold from QIAGEN shareholders. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many individual discussions with investors were held virtually during 2020 as roadshows and investor conferences.

QIAGEN hosted a Virtual Deep Dive event on December 8, 2020 to provide investors insight into strategy and focus on our five pillars of growth that was attended virtually by more than 125 market participants. More than 20 securities analysts, based in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, followed QIAGEN in 2020.