GHO buys Quotient Clinical from BDC

Katharina Semke
02 December 2015

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GHO Capital has acquired Quotient Clinical, a provider of outsourced drug development services, from Bridgepoint Development Capital.

unquote" understands the company was valued at £165m in the deal, representing a 6.4x money multiple and an IRR of 178% for Bridgepoint.

Bridgepoint stated that during its ownership, Quotient hired additional staff, won new customers and increased capacity. Bridgepoint decided to exit the company after it delivered on the key strategic objectives set as part of the original deal.

Quotient is Bridgepoint's third exit this year. In April 2015, the GP exited Shimtech Industries to Auctus Industries and Inflexion in a transaction totalling $220m. In July 2015, Bridgepoint realised its investment in Siblu, a French holiday parks operator, selling it to Sterling Square Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum.

GHO is a new player in the British private equity market with a focus on the healthcare sector. The GP closed its first deal in October, when it acquired DNA Diagnostics Center for €104m.

Previous funding
In December 2013, Bridgepoint acquired Quotient Clinical from Quotient Bioresearch Group. Debt for the deal was provided by HSBC.

Company
Quotient has developed a platform that integrates formulation development, real-time drug product manufacturing and clinical testing in order to reduce the time and cost of bringing a drug to market.

The business serves pharmaceutical companies, with more than 75% of its revenues generated from US and European customers. The company has two facilities in the UK, one in Nottingham and the other in Edinburgh, and employs 280 people.

People
Alan Payne is a partner at Bridgepoint. Mike Mortimer is executive partner and founder at GHO. Mark Egerton is CEO of Quotient.

Advisors
Equity – Macfarlanes (Legal); PwC (Corporate finance).
Vendor – Travers Smith (Legal).
Company – Travers Smith (Legal).