Keensight Capital, a principal private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investments, has reached an agreement to invest alongside management in Symeres, a European drug discovery contract research organization and contract development and manufacturing organization. According to the terms of the agreement, Keensight Capital will acquire a majority stake in Symeres from the Gilde Healthcare private equity fund, a leading European specialist healthcare investor.
Eelco Ebbers, co-founder and CEO of Symeres, stated, “We are very excited to continue building upon what we have created at Symeres over the last 20 years including the growth and M&A pursued with Gilde Healthcare since 2017. It is our ambition to be the best in class, most innovative, European mid-sized, small-molecule-focused, integrated drug discovery and development company from hit finding to clinical proof-of-concept. With Keensight Capital’s investment, we plan to further extend and expand our range of drug discovery and development services. We believe that Keensight’s sector expertise and global reach will be a great asset to the company’s development. We are certain that our combined efforts will lead to an unmatched offering for our clients in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.”
Amit Karna, partner at Keensight Capital, added, “Symeres is a very well-known and highly regarded CRO & CDMO, in which we are truly delighted to be investing. Every single day, the men and women of Symeres work on ground-breaking research to help treat unmet medical diseases and solve complex problems in drug manufacturing process design. Under the strong leadership of co-founders Eelco and Frank, and complemented greatly by Guillaume, we are convinced that Symeres will continue to expand upon its highly coveted position as a research partner of choice.”
Rafael Natanek, partner at Gilde Healthcare, said, “Gilde Healthcare played an active role in the international expansion of Symeres, participating in the merger of Mercachem with Syncom in 2017 and subsequent acquisitions like Alcami Weert and Admescope. We are proud to have collaborated with management to grow Symeres into the company it is today. This exciting agreement with Keensight Capital is testament to Symeres’ success. We are confident that Keensight will facilitate further expansion in the business and its range of services and clients. We wish Symeres, its outstanding employees, and Keensight Capital all the best as they continue this valuable work.”