Concept Life Sciences

Concept Life Sciences is a provider of integrated drug discovery, development, analytical testing and environmental consulting services.

Founded in 2014, Concept Life Sciences brought together Peakdale Molecular Limited along with Resource & Environmental Consultants Limited and Scientific Analysis Laboratories Limited.

Headquartered in Manchester, the business serves an international customer base, primarily in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and environmental markets.

VALUE CREATION

As part of its value creation strategy, Equistone supported Concept Life Sciences’ plans to explore potential build-up opportunities in the biology and chemistry markets relating to early-stage drug development.

This has led to the completion of three successful add-on acquisitions:

• Dundee-based CXR Biosciences, an investigative toxicology business, was acquired in August 2015.
• Agenda1 Analytical Services, a pharmaceutical testing business in Bradford, was acquired in October 2015
• In October 2017, Edinburgh-based, Aquila BioMedical was acquired to enhance Concept Life Sciences’ discovery capabilities.

During Equistone’s investment period, Concept Life Sciences has expanded through a mix of organic growth and targeted acquisitions, and the business has increased its workforce from 500 to over 700 across its 11 laboratories in the UK.

THE EXIT

Equistone sold its Fund IV investment in Concept Life Sciences for £163m to Spectris PLC, a leading supplier of productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls. The realisation resulted in a money multiple of 2.7x and an IRR of 36%.