GHO Capital acquires Ardena, a leading CDMO providing early stage drug development and manufacturing for small-to-mid sized biopharma

Ardena is a multi-service CDMO, assisting small-to-mid sized biopharma with services spanning the full development life cycle. The Company offers a comprehensive ‘Make, Analyse, File’ model from drug substance and drug product manufacturing and bioanalytical services through to regulatory dossier development. Headquartered in Belgium, the company operates across several sites in the Netherlands, Sweden and Latvia.

With a strong reputation for quality and a flexible service delivery model, Ardena caters to a highly diversified base of over 300 customers throughout Europe, the US, Japan and Korea. A high science approach and broad drug development toolkit differentiate Ardena from peers as a comprehensive multi-service pan-European platform.
With extensive sectoral expertise and network in the global biopharma industry, the GHO team will support management in accelerating Ardena’s plan to enable customers to take a molecule from ‘target to clinic’ with a single outsourced drug development service provider.

GHO plans to further strengthen Ardena’s broad service proposition through organic and inorganic opportunities, adding to both the Company’s offering and international footprint.

The Company is well-positioned to benefit from sector trends as an increasing number of biopharma companies outsource large parts of their early stage drug development work to highly specialised CDMOs.

Harry Christiaens, CEO of Ardena, commented: “With their deep expertise in the Pharma sector, we are excited now to partner with GHO as we continue our international growth. Ardena and GHO are fully committed to the science-led approach that delivers valuable solutions for our biopharma customers globally.”

The Partners at GHO Capital, commented: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Ardena team. Operating within a highly fragmented market, Ardena is the market leading platform from which to build a fully integrated early stage CDMO, serving Biopharma clients globally.”

Gijs Botman, Partner of Mentha Capital, commented: “Ardena has grown from a Ghent-based business to become a leading early-stage, multi-service CDMO in Western Europe. After successfully completing and integrating four acquisitions, the company is now ready for a new growth phase. We had a fantastic journey with the Ardena team, and we are confident that GHO Capital is the right partner to support their ambitions going forward.”

GHO recently announced the close of their second specialist healthcare private equity fund at its hard cap of €975m and have completed a further two investments in 2019 (Sterling Pharma and BioAgilytix) as well as recent exits from Quotient Sciences and Caprion Biosciences.

The following advisors assisted GHO with the acquisition of Ardena: Alvarez & Marsal, Deloitte, Sidley Austin LLP, Loyens & Loeff N.V, CIL Management Consultants, E&Y’s Life Sciences Corporate Finance Team, Matrix Global Services Limited, AON, ERM and Saola Healthcare Partners.

The following advisors assisted Ardena with the sale to GHO: William Blair, Deloitte, L.E.K. Consulting, deBreij, Schoups, Delphi, Ellex, CorporateWise, van Doorne and ERM.

About GHO Capital
Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital Partners LLP, is a leading specialist healthcare investment advisor based in London. We apply global capabilities and perspectives to unlock high growth healthcare opportunities in Europe, building market leading businesses of strategic global value. Our proven investment track record reflects the unrivalled depth of our industry expertise and network. We partner with strong management teams to unlock value in a global system that demands the delivery of better, faster, more accessible healthcare. For further information, please visit www.ghocapital.com.

About Ardena Group
The Ardena Group (’Ardena’) is a world-class Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization. Ardena assists pharmaceutical companies, from virtual biotech to big pharma, in bringing their valued molecules to the clinic and the market.
Ardena provides a comprehensive range of services from early drug substance development to finished dosage form including: drug substance development & manufacturing; solid state research; drug product development & manufacturing; drug product packaging, labelling & supply; bioanalysis; dossier development and, nanomedicine. For more information, please visit https://ardena.com/.

About Mentha Capital
Mentha Capital is a leading private equity firm in the lower end of the mid-market in the Benelux. It partners with established, mid-sized companies offering clear opportunities for accelerated growth (organic and through buy-&-build), global expansion and organizational transition. With over €400 million under management, Mentha Capital typically teams up with founders to realize ambitious growth plans. For further information, please visit www.menthacapital.com