CRO

SynteractHCR CRO 'looking for a $1.5B sale'

Privately-owned SynteractHCR is seeking a sale of its business and values itself at around $1.5 billion as its investor group owner looks to cash in on the major boom in the CRO sector.

The reports, which have been published by news wire Reuters this week quoting anonymous people “familiar with the matter”, say the CRO’s owner--private equity firm Gryphon Investors--is working with investment bank Wells Fargo & Co to run an auction for the company.

The Carlsbad, CA-based SynteractHCR had annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of around $160 million.

SynteractHCR provides outsourced support to pharmaceutical companies, from drug development to marketing and was established back in 2008 when Gryphon Investors acquired majority ownership of the company and merged it with another company, Vince & Associates Clinical Research.

It has since grown further through acquisitions, with one of the biggest coming in 2013 when it acquired Germany’s Harrison Clinical Research, rebranding itself as SynteractHCR and expanding its reach to 16 countries.

This comes in the same month that CRO InVentiv Health is seeking an IPO worth up to $500 million. Should the deals go through, each would underscore how the CRO industry has benefited in recent years from the industry’s drive to cut cost and reduce clinical trial times.

-check out Reuters take