• Fiomi acquired by Irish based Trinity Biotech (NasdaqGS: TRIB)
• Trinity to commit significant resource to bringing new products to market
• Business to remain in Uppsala, Sweden
• A&D and nxt2b to become shareholders in Trinity
• Agreement values company at US$13.1 million

Alfvén & Didrikson Invest AB (A&D) and Nexttobe AB (nxt2b) have executed an agreement with Irish based, Nasdaq listed, Trinity Biotech plc (Trinity), under the terms of which Trinity becomes the new owner of Fiomi Diagnostics AB (Fiomi).

Fiomi, which is based in Uppsala, Sweden, is at an advanced stage in developing a panel of point-of-care cardiac marker assays based on a technology platform invented by the Fiomi Team. This platform is capable of providing extremely sensitive, highly reproducible, quantitative, multiplexed results making it significantly more accurate than the current established point-of-care tests in the market.

A&D and nxt2b have put significant effort into ensuring a sustainable solution for Fiomi and are delighted to see Trinity as Fiomi’s new owner. Fiomi’s business will continue to be based in Uppsala, Sweden. A&D and nxt2b will become minority shareholders in Trinity.

About A&D
Founded in 2010, Stockholm based Alfvén & Didrikson Invest AB is wholly owned by Måns Alfvén and Hjalmar Didrikson. It invests in small and mid sized privately owned European companies. Alfvén & Didrikson AB provides advice to Alfvén & Didrikson Invest AB and other companies in relation to their investments. For more information please visit www.alfvendidrikson.com

About nxt2b
nxt2b was started in 2011 by the Swedish entrepreneur Bengt Ågerup. nxt2b has the ambition to be a leading venture capital/private equity firm with focus on growth equity investments in healthcare, medical devices and specialty pharmaceutical companies. nxt2b also invests in technology and consumer companies. nxt2b has invested in more than 25 companies. nxt2b supports its portfolio company management teams to build market leading companies. For more information please visit www.nxt2b.com

About Fiomi
Based in Uppsala, Sweden, Fiomi develops products for near patient testing that offer central lab performance in a reliable, easy to use and affordable format. For more information please visit www.fiomi.se

About Trinity Biotech plc
Trinity Biotech develops, acquires, manufactures and markets diagnostic systems, including both reagents and instrumentation, for the point-of-care and clinical laboratory segments of the diagnostic market. The products are used to detect infectious diseases and to quantify the level of Haemoglobin A1c and other chemistry parameters in serum, plasma and whole blood. Trinity Biotech sells direct in the United States, Germany, France and the U.K. and through a network of international distributors and strategic partners in over 75 countries worldwide. For further information please see the Company’s website:www.trinitybiotech.com.

Dear Friends,

For Alfvén & Didrikson, 2011 was a year of co-operation and co-ownership. Måns became half of everything we do. We joined forces with nxt2b in Uppsala to co-invest in Fiomi Diagnostics and the Trustly Group. We partnered with a group of Värmland based investors to issue a convertible for Calmark. We worked closely together with our investee companies and their management teams to develop our businesses and become better at selling. We worked together with very talented and capable people, reviewing investment opportunities in some 35 companies proactively.

So what do we want to achieve with Alfvén & Didrikson?

• we want to build something that lasts: Whether it be life science or improving offerings to e-merchants, we want to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and say we do good.
• we want to have respectful relationships: We build our business on mutually respectful relationships with our investee companies, their management teams and our other partners.
• we want to have fun and enjoy the work we carry out: We want to laugh our brains out and go crazy every now and then. This does not prevent us from striving to be world class professionals and performers.

So how are we trying to be different?

• we get our hands dirty to help. We don’t just comment on stuff. We take an integral part of the design and deeds of our investee companies. Without messing up governance.
• we are pragmatic and open-minded. Yes, we know focus is important. But variety is the spice of life, so we do not let preconceived opinions or rules stop us from capturing opportunities.
• we are incentivised to succeed together with our partners. We don’t go to work to pick up a salary or bonuses. We are entrepreneurs and risk takers and from that we take our rewards. We are not in a great hurry.

Turning to 2012, we want to continue creating value in the companies where we’ve invested time and capital. We want to do more exciting investment with super talented people and we want to carry and build on the excellent relationships we have.

Thanks for reading this. Thanks for your trust and co-operation. And to our investee companies and their co-workers: Thanks for your very hard work.

This holiday period, we’ve chosen to contribute to Lilla barnets fond, a charity supporting research on newborn infants, and Situation Stockholm, a magazine supporting the homeless in Stockholm.

We wish you happy holidays and a very successful, busy and fun 2012.

Sincerely,
Måns and Hjalmar

• Rights are acquired to the Forecast Technology platform for Point-of-Care testing, under license from Åmic AB (a subsidiary to Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and Johnson & Johnson)
• Ove Öhman, former co-founder of Åmic AB, becomes CEO of the new company
• The management team will be supported by Bengt Ågerup and Hjalmar Didrikson
• The goal of the company is to develop and market products based on the Forecast Technology and make them available to physicians around the world