INC Research‘s $232 million acquisition of Ohio clinical research organization Kendle (NASDAQ:KNDL) is complete.
Raleigh, North Carolina-based INC announced completion of the all-cash deal Tuesday after the close of the financial markets. The combined, privately held company will operate as INC Research led by INC’s CEO James Ogle, along with his INC management team. The company will remain headquartered in Raleigh. Following the official announcement of the completed deal, both INC and Kendle turned to healthcare social media and sent out messages on Twitter. For Kendle, it amounted to the company’s final Tweet as a standalone company.
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INC and Kendle entered into the merger agreement in May, a move to add global scale to INC’s operations and make the combined company more competitive with the CRO industry’s top firms such as Durham, North Carolina-based Quintiles; PPD (NYSE:PPDI) in Wilmington, North Carolina; and Covance (NYSE:CVD).
M&A activity in the CRO sector has been strong in the first half of 2011; several of the deals have involved North Carolina companies. In January, inVentiv Health announced it would acquire CRO i3 Research as well as Campbell Alliance, a Raleigh consulting firm. In May, Morrisville, North Carolina-based Clinipace Worldwide acquired Swiss CRO PFC Pharma Focus in a bid to add global scale to its operations.
INC, whose financial backers include private equity firm Avista Capital Partners, has been active on the acquisition front as well. Before the Kendle announcement, INC acquired AVOS Life Sciences, a North Carolina consultancy. In June, INC acquired Australian CRO Trident Clinical Research. With Kendle now in INC’s fold, the new company employs more than 5,000 in operations spanning 100 countries. The company said that the scale allows INC to conduct clinical trials of all sizes across the drug development spectrum.
For more details on the INC/Kendle merger, read this Q&A from INC.
