Firm will have offices in 10 countries and approximately double its workforce.
Averion International paid €25 million, or approximately $36.01 million, to Cerep for subsidiary Hesperion, a Swiss-based, international, full-service CRO.
The acquisition price included an upfront cash payment of €20 million and the rest will be tendered within 30 days through the issuance of a promissory note. Averion is required to pay an additional €2.5 million in cash within 30 days of closing if it is not able to obtain a letter of credit securing the promissory note, at which point an unsecured promissory note in the amount of €2.5 million will be issued.
“Hesperion has outperformed the CRO sector, achieving more than 20% annual growth over the last three years,” notes Markus H. Weissbach, M.D., Ph.D., Hesperion’s CEO who will be the new CEO of Averion. “With this transaction, the new Averion will be more competitive in the CRO market.”
With the completion of this acquisition, Averion reports that it will have 14 offices in 10 countries, a significantly strengthened presence in Europe, and double its full-time employee base.
“Current CRO industry trends indicate a growing need for the ability to perform larger, full-service global trials,” points out Philip T. Lavin, Ph.D., formerly Averion’s CEO, who has been named to the newly created position of executive chairman. “With this transaction, we enhance our competitive position by doubling the size of our operations and broadening our client base. We have the capabilities to span the CRO lifecycle from first-in-man clinical trials through marketing authorization and into postmarket surveillance and reimbursement. Averion now has the operational capacity necessary to compete for global clinical programs.”
