LDC picks up Synexus from Lyceum for £83m

Lyceum reaped a 2.8x money multiple on its investment.

Under Lyceum's stewardship, Synexus has expanded the number of sites it operates from 13 to 25, following a buy-and-build growth strategy. New sites were opened in Hexham in the UK, Bochum in Germany, Bucharest in Romania, Poznan in Poland, and Sofia in Bulgaria. A site near Cape Town, South Africa was also acquired. The company saw its revenues grow from £17m to £41m between 2011 and 2014. Furthermore, the company's headcount increased from 185 to 600.

Debt
BlueBay and HSBC provided debt facilities to support the transaction.

Previous funding
Lyceum delisted Synexus from AIM in November 2007, valuing the company's equity at £18m, according to unquote" data.

In December 2009, Lyceum supported Synexus's acquisition of Germany-based ClinPharm.

Company
Synexus is a clinical research business, which operates through a network of 25 dedicated research centres (DRCs) across eight countries. The company recruits and treats patients in clinical trials in support of drug research. It specialises in five key therapeutic areas – cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, endocrinology/metabolic and central nervous system. Customers are typically pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations. Clients include AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, J&J, Amgen, Covance, Pfizer, Roche, Quintiles, Paraxel, and Icon.

In 2014, the company reported £140m on its order book, revenues of £41m and EBITDA of £7.8m.

People
Lyceum partner Andrew Aylwin is a board member of Synexus. Christophe Berthoux is CEO of Synexus. Director Ged Gould led the deal for LDC alongside investment directors Simon Braham and Chris Wright.

Advisers
Equity – EY (Corporate finance, commercial due diligence); Deloitte (Financial due diligence); DLA Piper (Legal).
Vendor – Farimount Partners (Corporate finance); Travers Smith (Legal); KPMG (Financial due diligence); LEK (Commercial due diligence).

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• UK / Ireland
• Exits
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• LDC
• Horizon Capital (formerly Lyceum Capital)