Apax Partners, a London-based private equity firm, announced on February 21 that it acquired a majority stake in Porsolt, a global preclinical contract research organization (CRO) located in Le Genest-Saint-Isle, France.
This partnership will enhance Porsolt’s service offering and expand its portfolio and capabilities for drug screening, efficacy and safety for clients worldwide. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Porsolt works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutes and not-for-profit organizations, offering specialized preclinical testing services across many disease areas, physiological systems and processes.
The funds managed and advised by Apax Partners amount to more than $5.3 billion (€5 billion). These funds invest in small- and medium-sized enterprises in tech and telecom, services, health and consumer goods.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this represents the eighth CRO acquisition of 2023. This is an approximately 33% increase from 2022 when there were 6 CRO transactions announced between January 1, 2022, and February 21, 2022.
