Pharmaceutical research | Quebec’s NuChem Sciences goes into British hands

The Quebec pharmaceutical contract research company NuChem Sciences is going into the hands of the British group Sygnature Discovery, which is already three times its size in terms of staff.

Founded in 2011, NuChem Sciences employs approximately 300 people in its three contract research activity centers located in Montreal and Lévis.

Its main development investors include the Montreal venture capital fund AmorChem, the government corporation Investissement Québec, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).

As for the acquirer of NuChem, the Sygnature Discovery group, whose head office is located in Nottingham, England, it is already one of the big players in contract research in pharmaceuticals on the other side of the Atlantic.

On the eve of its twentieth anniversary of founding, Sygnature Discovery employs nearly 1,000 people across its four UK operations and two offices in Boston and San Francisco, USA.

Also, in its development capital, Sygnature Discovery has been counting for two years on the financial support of Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI).

With its 8 billion euros in assets under management, equivalent to 11 billion Canadian dollars, FAPI is one of the leading private equity and venture capital subsidiaries for growth technology companies of the European financial group Rothschild. & Co.

Acquisitions

Moreover, the purchase of Quebec’s NuChem Sciences represents the third growth acquisition made by Sygnature Discovery in less than two years.

Last January, it acquired the firm SB Drug Discovery, which employs around fifty researchers and technicians in Glasgow, Scotland.

A few months earlier, in April 2022, Sygnature Discovery had acquired a biopharmaceutical contract research firm, Peak Proteins, which employs around 30 people at its facilities located in Macclesfield, on the southern outskirts of Manchester, England.

In this context, according to the CEO of Sygnature Discovery, the D^r Simon Hirst, the acquisition of NuChem Sciences in Canada “marks a key step in Sygnature’s growth plan”, as “this addition greatly enhances [son] offer” in the pharmaceutical contract research market in North America.

Financial and business terms of the acquisition announced Tuesday are not disclosed.

But from the perspective of the President and CEO of NuChem Sciences, the D^r Marc Lebel, “the values ​​and objectives of our company align perfectly with those of Sygnature in order to become a world leader in drug discovery, by increasing our scientific expertise and our presence in North America and Europe for the benefit of our customers and our employees.

Note that NuChem Sciences had also stood out over the past two years with growth acquisitions in Quebec’s pharmaceutical contract research community.

A little less than a year ago, in October 2022, NuChem Sciences acquired its Laval counterpart IniXium.

A few months earlier, in August 2021, NuChem Sciences had control over OmegaChem, a contract research company established in Lévis, on the South Shore of Quebec.