Mercia sells NAC to PE-backed LGC for £18m

The sale is anticipated to generate an 8.4x return on the original direct investment cost and a 65% IRR.

Mercia held a 29.4% fully diluted direct holding in NAC at the date of sale and will receive initial cash proceeds of £4.8m, with up to a further £400,000 receivable upon finalisation of customary closing working capital calculations.

A consortium of Cinven, Astorg and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority agreed to acquire life sciences supplies provider LGC for £3bn from KKR in November 2019. At the time, a consortium of banks provided a £265m revolving credit facility as well as two term loan Bs for acquisitions and the refinancing of its existing debt.

Previous funding
Mercia first invested in NAC in 2011 through its third-party managed funds, which on 31 March 2020 held an additional combined 20.9% stake. It subsequently invested from its own balance sheet as a direct investment in December 2014.

Company
Founded in 2010, as a divestiture from a University of Birmingham spinout company, NAC is a supplier of infectious disease reagents, particularly of reagents for the study of emerging diseases. Based in Oxford, the company employs 30 people.

People
Mercia Asset Management – Mark Payton (CEO).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Portfolio management
• UK / Ireland
• Healthcare
• United Kingdom
• Trade sale
• Build-up
• Cinven
• Astorg Partners
• Venture