SFW Capital Partners has made an investment in Essen BioScience. SFW is partnering in this investment with Essen’s co-founders, Kirk Schroeder and Brad Neagle, who serve as the current President and Vice-President of Operations and Engineering respectively, and its management team.
Essen BioScience is a provider of analytical instrumentation, software, reagents and services used in cell-based life science research. Essen’s customers include biopharmaceutical companies including Merck, Genentech, Amgen, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, amongst others, and academic and research institutions including Harvard, MD Anderson, Yale, Cambridge, University of Michigan, Tokyo, Seoul National University, and Kyoto University. The company was founded in 1999 by Messrs. Schroeder and Neagle and is based near Detroit in Ann Arbor, MI with additional offices in the United Kingdom and Japan (www.essenbioscience.com).
“Essen exhibits the key characteristics that we look for in our investments in the analytical instrumentation market: high-value products and services, deep customer relationships, and significant opportunities for growth,” said Roger Freeman, SFW Partner, who will be a member of the Essen Board of Directors. “We look forward to partnering with Kirk, Brad and the Essen management team to build on and extend the success of the company.”
With SFW’s strategic support and resources, Essen plans on making investments to further expand its applications and assays, develop and introduce new products, and continue to enhance its sales, service and support capabilities.
“We are very pleased to be partnering with the SFW team, which is a well-known long-term investor and builder of analytical instrumentation businesses,” said Mr. Schroeder. “We are very proud of our current and historical accomplishments here at Essen, and this significant investment serves as a strong endorsement for our business model, growth strategy and future prospects.”
SFW focuses exclusively on analytical tools and related services companies, including providers of instrumentation, software, information and analytical services. SFW typically invests from $10 million to $75 million of equity in middle market companies that have up to $25 million in EBITDA. The firm has offices in Rye, NY and Hudson, OH (www.sfwcap.com).
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 5-15-14
