Covid-19 has spurred increased funding and interest in life sciences research, a trend that LLR Partners hopes to capitalize on through its acquisition of a majority stake in lab products manufacturer Genesee Scientific, announced earlier in October.
Genesee, based in El Cajon, California makes and distributes proprietary lab supplies, such as one-use pipets and reagent chemicals, for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, colleges, hospitals and research labs. It’s known for brands, including Olympus laboratory plastics.
“Genesee is purely a life sciences play, so we think we get to take advantage of all the tailwinds in that space,” new CEO Sean Patrick told Mergers & Acquisitions. Patrick served previously as an executive at Vertiflex and GPB Scientific. “There are quite a few hot areas at the moment that are not only progressing on the research side, but oftentimes translating from research into clinical applications or diagnostics in hospitals or directing care. There’s a ton of momentum.”
Add-on acquisitions are expected, with opportunities for growth coming from advances in messenger RNA vaccines and the study of genes and proteins, which could be applied to other diseases. “This is mostly a proprietary products company, and we think that makes it a great fit with other proprietary product companies out there that we may be able to find as we go forward from an M&A perspective,” Patrick said.
Genesee “has served as a key partner to laboratories for more than two decades and will continue to support its customers as they lead innovative research initiatives for the industry,” said LLR partner Michael Levenberg in a statement.
Genesee was founded in 1995 by Ken Fry as an independent laboratory products distributor servicing scientists in the U.S. Fry will stay on with the company on its board of directors. Executive vice presidents David Ultis and Jeff Boone will also stay with the company.
Capstone Partners served as financial advisor to Genesee on the transaction.
