CRO M&A Market in 2020 (So Far)
There haven’t been many deals targeting contract research organizations (CRO) in 2020, especially compared to previous years, which makes sense. Life science companies are all slowing down clinical trials (COVID-19 vaccine research excluded) to adhere to social distancing guidelines, meaning CRO services are just not in as high demand. For 2020, only 10% of deals in the Other Services sector have targeted a CRO company (14 deals). To put that in context, CROs were targeted in 15% (29 transactions) of deals in the Other Services sector for 2019, according to The 2020 Health Care Services Acquisition Report. There haven’t been many headline deals this year for the CRO market.... Read More »
Belgian CDMO Acquired by Catalent
Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) announced a $315 million deal for MaSTherCell Global, a technology-focused cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization based in Gosselies, Belgium. It is backed by Great Point Partners, SFPI-FPIM (the Belgian Federal Holdings and Investment Company) and Orgenesis Inc. (NASDAQ: ORGS). This is the Somerset, New Jersey-based CRO’s fifth deal since 2014, all of them for domestic targets. Its most recent one was announced in April 2019, for Baltimore-based Paragon Bioservices, Inc., a contract research organization, for $1.2 billion. Founded in 2011, MaSTherCell has a 25,000-square-foot facility in Gosselies, providing clinical... Read More »
PE Firms Trade WIRB-Copernicus for $3 Billion
Leonard Green & Partners, L.P won the auction to acquire WIRB-Copernicus Group (WCG) from Arsenal Capital Partners for $3 billion. The purchase value was originally reported in PE Hub Buyouts. WCG is a clinical services organization that enables biopharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations and institutions to accelerate the delivery of new treatments and therapies to patients. Arsenal will retain a stake in WCG. It acquired the company in March 2012 and led its recapitalization in August 2016 alongside other investors, including MSD Partners, the family office of Michael Dell. WCG has an estimated EBITDA of $175 million for 2019. WCG has been relatively quiet on the... Read More »
CROs Are Still Trending as Q4 Rolls On
In the first week of November, BioAgilytix Labs, LLC, a portfolio company of Riverside Partners, purchased Cambridge Biomedical. Both Cambridge and BioAgilytix are contract research organizations (CROs) that develop novel therapeutic biologics and biosimilars, specializing in large molecule bioanalysis. The transaction expands BioAgilytix’s global footprint and adds further capacity by joining Cambridge Biomedical’s CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited, and GLP-compliant facility with its GxP laboratories in Durham, North Carolina and Hamburg, Germany. It also gives BioAgilytix a total of 400 employees. The merger follows a busy October for CROs, in which five deals were reported, accounting for... Read More »
CROs and CDMOs are Still Selling Fast
This past week Permira, a global investment firm based in the United Kingdom, spent $2.4 billion for Cambrex Corporation (NYSE: CBM). Cambrex is a premier contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in the small molecule space and provides drug substance, drug product and analytical services across the entire drug lifecycle. The $2.4 billion purchase price includes the company’s net debt, for 4.2x revenue and 16.3x EBITDA, represents a 47.1% premium to Cambrex’s closing price of $40.78 on August 6. The target reported a number of its own acquisitions recently, making the CDMO a more attractive buy. Cambrex acquired Halo Pharma in 2018 and Avista Pharma Solutions... Read More »