Protein Technologies, a manufacturer of peptide synthesis instrumentation, has been acquired by private equity firm Ampersand Capital Partners for an undisclosed price.
“Ampersand’s acquisition further strengthens our balance sheet, enabling our company to accelerate development of new products and enhance the level of service that we provide to our customers,” Nate Cosper, Ph.D., Protein Technologies’ president and CEO, said in a statement.
The company said the acquisition will solidify its financial position as it seeks to meet growing demand based on worldwide research interest in novel, peptide-based therapies.
Dr. Cosper will retain his position after the acquisition, and Protein Technologies will continue to operate as usual, the company said.
Square 1 Bank has provided working capital financing concurrent with Ampersand’s investment, Protein Technologies said, in order to further support the acquired company’s future growth.
Protein Technologies designs, manufactures, and supplies peptide synthesizers and reagents to academic and commercial researchers at universities, biotechnology firms, and pharmaceutical companies. The company is based in Tucson, AZ, and was founded in 1985 by researchers affiliated with the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Protein Technologies introduced its most recent protein synthesizer, the Symphony® X, in 2012. According to the company, Symphony X can synthesize up to 12 peptides using preactivation or up to 24 peptides using in situ activation. Its features include up to 40 amino acid positions, no-prime deliveries for costly reagent additions, infrared heating, UV monitoring, and email notification.
The company’s six-channel, parallel Prelude® peptide synthesizer, introduced in 2006, was used by investigators at the University of Utah last year for research on using peptide mimics as drug target surrogates to develop new Ebola treatments.
Ampersand is a middle-market private equity firm that specializes in growth equity investments in the healthcare sector. Based in Wellesley, MA, Ampersand spun out of PaineWebber in the late 1980s and began investing in healthcare in 1994. The firm has managed $1 billion in private equity partnerships.
