Audax Private Equity has agreed to acquire the Clinical Services business (CSB) of publicly traded Avantor for $650 million.
CSB operates as part of Avantor’s laboratory solutions segment and provides three core services supporting clinical trials and laboratory operations. Through its Therapak brand, CSB provides custom kitting services, producing over 22 million kits annually and shipping them to more than 175 countries.
An example of a Therapak kit is a drug testing kit for urine specimen collection. This kit typically includes a sample acquisition envelope with instructions, an envelope seal, a round foil cinching sheet, an alcohol prep pad, and a specimen transport bag.
Through its EPL Archives unit, CSB provides regulated, temperature and humidity-controlled environments for storing and archiving biological samples, such as blood or tissue specimens collected during active trials and also for post-trial storage. Additionally, through its MESM brand, CSB provides logistics and freight management services – tracking, tracing, and secure shipping at specified temperatures – for clinical trial equipment and biological samples.
Customers of CSB include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organizations (CROs), and diagnostic laboratories. According to Avantor, CSB has approximately 800 employees and revenues for the full year 2024 are estimated at $200 million.
“We appreciate the unique capabilities that this business delivers to some of the most demanding customers in the pharma and life sciences sectors, and we look forward to investing aggressively to expand the company’s commercial and technical reach,” said David Wong, a partner at Audax Private Equity.
Audax Private Equity invests in North American-headquartered businesses that are active in the business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare, industrial services and technologies, and software and technology sectors. Audax has a history of investing in healthcare related corporate carveouts, including the acquisitions of Aspen Surgical in 2019 and Lifemark Health in 2015.
In July 2023, Audax closed its latest funds, Audax Private Equity Fund VII LP (Fund VII) and Audax Private Equity Origins Fund I LP (Origins). Both funds closed above their targets with Origins closing on $774 million in capital commitments, and Fund VII closing at its hard cap of $5.25 billion in capital commitments. Fund VII invests in companies with $15 million to $80 million in EBITDA and enterprise values of $125 million to $800 million; and the firm’s new Origins strategy invests in companies with $5 million to $15 million in EBITDA and enterprise values up to $125 million.
Audax Private Equity was founded in 1999 and has offices in Boston, San Francisco, New York, and London.
“We’re pleased to work with Avantor to effect a quick and seamless transition to the benefit of all of our stakeholders,” said Stephen Weaver, a managing director at Audax. “The investments we intend to make to this platform should deliver tremendous benefit to our clients and our team members.”
Avantor (NYSE: AVTR) is a provider of products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries including materials and consumables, equipment and instrumentation, inventory and equipment management, and biorepository and archiving services. Avantor is headquartered near Philadelphia in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Moelis & Company was the financial advisor to Audax Private Equity and Avantor was advised by J.P. Morgan Securities.
The acquisition of CSB is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2024.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | August 21, 2024
