Gilde Healthcare invests in Mercachem and Syncom to build the Premier European Drug Discovery Contract Research Organization - Gilde Healthcare

Gilde Healthcare invests in Mercachem and Syncom to build the Premier European Drug Discovery Contract Research Organ...

August 28, 2017

Utrecht, the Netherlands — Gilde Healthcare, the European specialist investor in healthcare, together with Dutch pension service provider PGGM, as co-investor, have invested in Mercachem and Syncom, two of the leading European drug discovery Contract Research Organizations (CRO). The resulting Mercachem-Syncom Group, with operations in Nijmegen and Groningen, the Netherlands and Prague, Czech Republic, becomes the premier European mid-sized CRO offering innovative best-in-class chemistry solutions.

Since their inception in 1997 and 1988 respectively, Mercachem and Syncom have established themselves as two of Europe’s leading drug discovery CROs with a focus on high-quality chemistry services to large and mid-size pharmaceutical, life sciences and innovative chemistry customers worldwide. Today’s merger enables the Mercachem-Syncom Group to broaden its offering of integrated drug discovery services and invest into state-of-the-art knowledge base and facilities to address clients’ growing demand for outsourcing solutions. The merger of Mercachem and Syncom is enabled by Gilde Healthcare, the European specialist investor in healthcare together with Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM, as co-investor. The resulting Mercachem-Syncom Group will pursue an active growth strategy aiming for further organic expansion and acquisitions.

Ton Vries, CEO of Syncom, comments:

“We are proud to join forces with Mercachem and welcome the specialist support of Gilde Healthcare and PGGM. The current pharmaceutical market is demanding more highly complex chemistry solutions. Both Mercachem and Syncom stem from the same cultural and scientific background and have a longstanding trackrecord in satisfying the growing outsourcing demand of the industry. Our combination will further enhance the ability to satisfy our clients by providing more capacity and collective chemistry knowledge.”

Eelco Ebbers, Managing Director of Mercachem adds:

“In order to support our customers and projects with fully integrated drug discovery services, we have found the right partners to form a leading mid-sized CRO; small enough to care and large enough to matter. In this new combination, we are fully equipped to grow the group towards a broader service offering and expand our facilities. For our customers, the Group provides flexibility in best-in-class chemistry, from design and synthesis of small molecule hits, to the delivery of first GMP batches of identified clinical candidates.”

Hugo de Bruin, partner at Gilde Healthcare:

“The Merchachem-Syncom Group offers superior quality contract research for drug discovery and development in Europe, with an organization of more than 300 employees, half of whom are PhDs. Gilde Healthcare and our co-investor PGGM intend to support further M&A growth as well as the expansion of the current locations. Outsourcing remains a strong trend and a premium player as the Mercachem-Syncom Group will be able to service the increasing demand from its blue-chip clients around the globe.”

Contacts

Gilde Healthcare
Hugo de Bruin / Matteo Racca
Tel. +31.30.219.2565

PGGM
Ellen Habermehl
Tel +31.6.2284.6256

About the Mercachem-Syncom Group

The Mercachem-Syncom Group has a proven track record of almost 30 years supporting leading pharma and biotechnology companies with innovative and complex medicinal chemistry programs. Starting as a chemistry service provider, the Group has transformed into an integrated drug discovery CRO offering innovative chemistry, medicinal chemistry, library synthesis, early process research services and cGMP manufacturing services to accelerate the drug discovery and development process in a flexible and cost-effective way. Furthermore, the Group has developed independently novel chemical matter in a number of areas, including CDK8 and sumoylation inhibitors (Sumiq Therapeutics) which will be further developed in milestone-based partnerships. The Mercachem-Syncom Group is recognized as a world leader in chiral chemistry with a strong focus on chiral resolution technology. With close to 250 chemists (> 50% PhD) working in state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, the Group serves many pharmaceutical and biotech companies throughout the world and is renowned for its high-quality services and problem-solving capabilities.

More information can be found on the company websites www.mercachem.com and www.syncom.nl

About Gilde Healthcare

Gilde Healthcare is a specialized European healthcare investor managing two business lines: lower mid-market buy-out funds and venture & growth capital funds. The Gilde Healthcare buy-out funds invest in profitable European healthcare services companies with a focus on the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The Gilde Healthcare funds focused on venture & growth capital invest in medtech, digital health and therapeutics in Europe and North America. Since 2001 Gilde Healthcare has raised €800 million ($900 million) for its specialized funds.

More information can be found on the company website www.gildehealthcare.com

About PGGM

PGGM is a cooperative Dutch pension fund service provider. Institutional clients are offered: asset management, pension fund management, policy advice and management support. On June 30, 2017 PGGM had EUR 206 billion in assets under management. The PGGM cooperative has approximately 725,000 members and is helping them to realize a valuable future. Either alone or together with strategic partners, PGGM develops future solutions by linking together pension, care, housing and work.

More information can be found on the company website www.pggm.nl

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