Partnership with Management to Continue Growing Industry-Leading Compliance Business Focused on Increasing Safety and Efficiency in Clinical Trials
SAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2019—Genstar Capital (“Genstar”), a leading private equity firm focused on investments in targeted segments of the healthcare, software, industrial technology, and financial services industries, announced today that it has recently signed a definitive agreement to acquire Advarra (“Advarra” or the “Company”), a leading provider of compliance solutions that are critical to the drug development process, from Linden Capital Partners (“Linden”), which intends to reinvest in the Company via a minority investment upon completion of the transaction.
Advarra is a leading provider of institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC) and research quality and compliance services, which are mandated by regulatory agencies for all trial protocols, patient forms, site initiations and trial modifications. The Company serves leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and contract research organizations (CROs), as well as academic medical centers, hospital systems, investigative site networks, and therapeutic research consortia, and has relationships with over 3,200 institutional sites. Advarra is headquartered in Columbia, MD and was formed through the merger of Chesapeake IRB and Schulman IRB in 2017; in March 2019, the Company completed its acquisition of Quorum Review.
David Golde, Managing Director of Genstar, said, “Genstar has a long track record of building industry-leading businesses in the pharmaceutical services sector through our investments in CRF Bracket, ERT, and PRA Health Sciences, among others. We were extremely impressed with the market leading platform that Pat Donnelly and his team have built in the regulatory compliance segment of clinical trials. We are excited for Advarra to continue leveraging its leading reputation in the IRB and regulatory compliance industry, while expanding, both organically and through strategic acquisitions, into other ancillary services to better serve its customers. Genstar looks forward to collaborating with Advarra’s management team to further its mission with all of the constituencies that depend upon safe and efficient progress of pharmaceutical research.”
Pat Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer of Advarra, said, “IRBs are required and critical to the drug development process and the increasing complexity of clinical trials and need to adhere to evolving and strict FDA guidelines will continue to drive the importance of our services. Advarra is devoted to enhancing the safety of clinical trial subjects around the world and to improving the efficiency of clinical trial execution for all stakeholders including sponsors, academic institutions, hospital systems, and CROs. This new partnership with Genstar augments our resources to further the important mission of our Company and to continue to unlock value for our customers. On behalf of the management team, we are grateful for Linden’s strong stewardship over the last several years.”
Tony Davis, President and Managing Partner at Linden, said, “We are proud to have played a role scaling Advarra into a truly differentiated platform as the industry-leading IRB, which is a result of our targeted value creation initiatives over the last three and a half years, most notably significantly investing in infrastructure and strategic acquisitions. The Company is very well positioned to continue on its growth trajectory, building on a long history of outperformance, superior human subject protection and leading therapeutic area specialization. We are excited about our intention to invest alongside Genstar and continue to support Advarra through its next phase of growth.”
Jefferies is serving as lead financial advisor and Houlihan Lokey is serving as co-financial advisor to Linden and Advarra. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Linden and Advarra in connection with this transaction. Ropes & Gray LLP is serving as legal counsel to Genstar.
About Advarra
Advarra, headquartered in Columbia, MD, provides institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), and global research compliance services to clinical trial sponsors, CROs, hospital systems, academic medical centers, and investigators. Its robust regulatory expertise and innovative technology ensure the highest standards of research review are met, while putting participants first and meeting complex human research protection oversight requirements. Advarra supports all phases of research across multiple therapeutic areas. Visit www.advarra.com.
About Genstar Capital
Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $17 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the healthcare, software, industrial technology, and financial services industries.
About Linden Capital Partners
Linden Capital Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused exclusively on investing in the healthcare industry. Linden’s strategy is based upon three elements: i) healthcare specialization, ii) integrated private equity and operating expertise, and iii) strategic relationships with large corporations. Linden invests in middle market platforms across the medical products, specialty distribution, pharmaceutical, and services segments of healthcare. For more information, please visit www.lindenllc.com.
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