PE Firms Trade WIRB-Copernicus for $3 Billion

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 »
Autism Therapy Provider Hopebridge Changes Hands Again

Autism Therapy Provider Hopebridge Changes Hands Again

Autism treatment companies are still hot targets in 2019. Eight transactions have been announced so far this year, compared with 20 in all of 2018. (That was an outsized year for every healthcare sector. There were nine deals for autism targets in 2017.) Private equity firms are trading platforms in this sub-sector. Just this year, Gryphon Investors bought Learn Behavioral from LLR Partners for an undisclosed amount. Now there’s the deal between Baird Capital and Arsenal Capital Partners for Hopebridge LLC. Hopebridge LLC was launched in 2005 in Indianapolis, Indiana to serve the growing need for autism treatment services. The clinic-based autism therapy business provides Applied... Read More »