WestView Capital Partners has acquired Kymanox, a provider of professional services to the life sciences industry.
Kymanox’s services include engineering, scientific, and regulatory compliance support and are used by biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies during early product development through commercialization. Kymanox was founded in 2004 by CEO Stephen Perry and is headquartered near Raleigh in Morrisville, North Carolina.
“At Kymanox, we are committed to our clients as they navigate modern medicine development from bench to patient. We offer a diverse team of subject matter experts who know how to connect-the-dots and fill-in-holes to meet program challenges and to ultimately bring better products to patients,” said Mr. Perry. “We are excited to partner with WestView and leverage their deep experience as investors in both the life science industry and people-based businesses. As we enter this next phase of growth together, Kymanox will expand the depth and breadth of our service offerings to meet the growing needs of our clients and the industry as a whole.”
“Our investment in Kymanox reflects WestView’s commitment to partnering with leading consulting companies led by passionate entrepreneurs,” said Jonathan Hunnicutt, a general partner at WestView. “We believe Kymanox’s deep technical expertise across multiple disciplines, coupled with their comprehensive project management services, positions them well to be a go-to partner for the life science industry.”
Abacus Finance backed WestView on this transaction through an equity co-investment and as the administrative agent and lead arranger on senior secured credit facilities. “We’ve known Abacus for a long time and know that we can always depend on them for a smooth and successful transaction,” added Mr. Hunnicutt.
“It was great to work once again with the WestView principals, some of whom we have known for more than a decade,” said Tim Clifford, the president and CEO of Abacus. “They have consistently brought us attractive opportunities like Kymanox that align well with our investment strategy.”
Abacus provides cash flow-based senior financing to private equity and family office-sponsored, lower-middle market companies that have EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. Debt facilities can be as large as $50 million. Since its founding in June 2011, Abacus has closed over $2 billion in financings. The firm is headquartered in New York and is an affiliate of New York Private Bank & Trust which was founded in 1850.
“We were extremely impressed with Kymanox’s senior management team and are excited to be their financing partner as they embark on the next stage of their growth in an attractive sector,” said Sean McKeever, a managing director and COO of Abacus. “As in other transactions, our success was a function of our speed, flexibility, and certainty of close – key aspects of what we call our Total Partnership Approach™.” (The Total Partnership Approach is the firm’s operating strategy that merges its cash-flow financing expertise, deep industry knowledge and client service capabilities to give its private equity and family office sponsors the certainty of close and transactional peace of mind).
Boston-based WestView makes majority and minority investments of $15 million to $60 million in lower middle-market growth companies. Sectors of interest include business services, software and IT services, consumer, healthcare technology and outsourcing, growth industrial, and consumer.
WestView has made multiple investments in companies that provide outsourced services to the life sciences sector including Connecticut-based Framework Solutions which was acquired by WestView earlier this month.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | August 30, 2021
