Investment will support next growth phase in
Advarra’s journey to make clinical research safer, smarter, and
faster
Advarra, a leading provider of regulatory, quality, and
compliance solutions and clinical trial technologies in the life
sciences sector, today announced that private equity funds managed
by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) and Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board (“CPP Investments”) have signed a definitive agreement to
make a majority investment in Advarra. The investment includes
significant continued equity participation from Genstar Capital and
Linden Capital Partners, current shareholders, and management.
Blackstone is investing in Advarra through its core private equity
strategy, which invests in high-quality companies for longer
periods than traditional private equity.
Advarra advances life sciences research by enabling safe,
ethical, and compliant clinical trials and providing core workflow
technology to support the development of life-saving therapies. Its
trusted Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Biosafety
Committee (IBC), and related services help ensure compliance and
participant safety during clinical trials while its innovative
software solutions enable clinical research sites to manage their
research in a compliant and efficient way. Advarra’s software
solutions also connect life sciences sponsors, contract research
organizations (CROs), researchers, and academic medical centers,
enabling them to better engage and collaborate throughout the
conduct of the clinical trial. Advarra is headquartered in
Columbia, Maryland and has extensive geographic reach.
“We are excited to join forces with Blackstone and CPP
Investments. Their global reach, leading healthcare and technology
franchises, shared values, and commitment to life sciences make
them the right partners to further accelerate growth in the next
stage of our journey,” said Gadi Saarony, CEO of Advarra. “They
bring deep global and sector experience and relationships to
support new service, data, and software innovation capabilities
that enhance compliance, transparency, collaboration, and overall
value to our clients across the life sciences ecosystem. We are
grateful for the strong support and contributions from Genstar and
Linden over the last several years, and we are pleased they have
chosen to remain significant investors.”
Anushka Sunder, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said,
“We are proud to back Advarra given its important role in enabling
high-quality clinical R&D and helping its clients bring
life-changing treatments to patients. Sustained innovation and
scientific advancement in life sciences is one of our highest
conviction investment themes across Blackstone. We are excited to
partner with Gadi and the rest of the Advarra team to continue
investing in talent, differentiated scientific expertise,
customer-centric solutions, and innovative clinical trial
technology to realize Advarra’s full potential in the years
ahead.”
“Advarra has established a strong reputation in the industry and
is well positioned to address the growing need for high-quality
clinical research solutions, making it a good fit for our long-term
investment strategy,” said Sam Blaichman, Managing Director, Head
of North America, Direct Private Equity at CPP Investments. “We
look forward to working with our partners and management to support
the growth of the business in the coming years.”
“Since our acquisition in 2019, Gadi and the Advarra team have
transformed the business into a leading provider of workflow
solutions to make clinical trials safer, more efficient and
ultimately, more successful,” commented David Golde, Managing
Director at Genstar Capital. “It has been a pleasure driving this
transformation with the Advarra team, and the company is on a very
exciting trajectory to further its mission supporting the life
sciences industry and the patients it serves. We wish Gadi, the
entire management team, Blackstone, and CPP Investments the best
success in driving Advarra’s next phase of strategic growth.”
Jefferies LLC is serving as lead financial advisor and Ropes
& Gray LLP as legal counsel to Genstar and Advarra. BofA
Securities acted as advisor in connection with the transaction.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is acting as legal counsel and
Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC as financial advisor to Blackstone.
About Advarra Advarra advances the way clinical research is
conducted: bringing life sciences companies, CROs, research sites,
investigators, and academia together at the intersection of safety,
technology, and collaboration. With trusted review solutions,
innovative technologies, experienced consultants, and deep-seated
connections across the industry, Advarra provides integrated
solutions that safeguard trial participants, empower clinical
sites, ensure compliance, and optimize research performance.
Advarra is advancing clinical trials to make them safer, smarter,
and faster. For more information, visit advarra.com.
About Blackstone Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative
asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and
long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and
the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary
people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our
$915 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles
focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity,
infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic,
non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all
on a global basis. Further information is available at
www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and
Instagram.
About CPP Investments Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management
organization that manages the Fund in the best interest of the 21
million contributors and beneficiaries of the Canada Pension Plan.
In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, investments are
made around the world in public equities, private equities, real
estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto,
with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York
City, San Francisco, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is
governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and
at arm’s length from governments. At March 31, 2022, the Fund
totalled C$539 billion. For more information, please visit
www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook or
Twitter.
About Genstar Capital Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is
a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in
high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco,
Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its
network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies
into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has
approximately $35 billion of assets under management and targets
investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services,
healthcare, industrials, and software industries.
About Linden Capital Partners Linden Capital Partners is
a Chicago-based private equity firm focused exclusively on the
healthcare industry. Founded in 2004, Linden is one of the
country’s largest dedicated healthcare private equity firms.
Linden’s strategy is based upon three elements: (i) healthcare
specialization, (ii) integrated private equity and operating
expertise, and (iii) its differentiated human capital program.
Linden invests in middle market platforms in the medical products,
specialty distribution, pharmaceutical, and services segments of
healthcare. Since its founding, Linden has invested in over 40
healthcare companies encompassing over 200 total transactions. The
firm has raised over $6 billion in limited partner commitments
since inception. For more information, please visit
www.lindenllc.com.
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Matthew Anderson +1 (212) 390-2472
Matthew.Anderson@blackstone.com
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