American Capital has made an investment in Schulman Associates IRB, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that provides clinical trial oversight services to pharmaceutical firms, contract research organizations, hospitals and academic medical centers throughout the United States and Canada. American Capital’s investment was made through American Capital Equity III, LP.
“We are extremely pleased to announce ACE III’s first platform investment since launching the fund earlier this year,” said Justin DuFour, American Capital Equity Partner. “Schulman is an excellent example of the type of businesses we are targeting in ACE III – lower middle market companies with proven management teams, niche market leadership positions, stable recurring revenue streams and attractive growth potential.”
Schulman Associates IRB is one of the largest IRBs in the United States. The company primarily serves the pharmaceutical and medical device industries as a central IRB on research involving drugs, medical devices and biologics. Schulman reviews research protocols and consent documents from clinical trials to evaluate compliance with human subject protection regulations. Schulman is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs. The company was founded in 1983 and is based in Cincinnati (www.sairb.com).
“Over its 31 year history, Schulman has successfully grown into an industry leader in the protection of human subjects in clinical trials,” said Eugene Krichevsky, American Capital Equity Partner. “With its best-in-class regulatory compliance record, extensive range of therapeutic expertise and differentiated technology platform, Schulman is poised to meet the growing IRB demand for complex, multi-site clinical trials.”
American Capital (NASDAQ: ACAS) is a publicly traded private equity firm and asset manager that originates, underwrites and manages investments of $10 million to $750 million in lower and middle market private equity, leveraged finance, real estate and structured products. American Capital Equity III, LP is a $1.1 billion fund focused on acquiring control equity and equity-related positions in companies with $5 to $25 million of EBITDA. Founded in 1986, American Capital has $80 billion in total assets under management and has eight offices in the US, Europe and Asia. The firm is headquartered in Bethesda (www.AmericanCapital.com).
“We are very excited to partner with CEO Michael Woods and the rest of the Schulman team,” said Scott Kauffman, American Capital Equity Principal. “They have done a remarkable job in driving significant historical growth and we are confident in their ability to continue to deliver strong results going forward.”
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 12-9-14
