Astorg buys majority stake in Avania and plans med devices M&A
Astorg has acquired a majority stake in medical device CRO Avania and announced plans to expand the firm through organic growth and acquisitions.
The private equity firm said the investment – combined with “an anticipated minority reinvestment” by previous owner Kester – will help Avania continue expand its offering and geographic coverage, while actively executing M&A opportunities in a fragmented market.
This was echoed in a press release by Avania CEO Sapna Hornyak, who said “The platform we have built to date with the support of Kester has positioned us ahead of our competition in the MedTech CRO space.
“We are delighted to be adding Astorg as our partner which will bring additional investment to strengthen our infrastructure, capital for acquisitions and added expertise and insight as we continue to grow Avania into the clear market leader,” Hornyak added.
Consolidation
Netherlands-headquartered Avania has offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific and claims it has a customer base of 300 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) working in the medical device space.
The contract research organization (CRO) offering includes clinical trial management, biostatistics, regulatory consulting, data analytics, medical writing and reimbursement.
Avania is the third investment made by Astorg’s Mid-Cap fund. Other services firms in its wider portfolio include clinical trial technology firm Clario. It also previously backed pathology testing lab Laboratoire Cerba.
Edouard Pillot, Managing Partner of Astorg Mid-Cap, cited Avania’s ability to consolidate the medical device contracting space as a major motivation for the investment.
“We believe that the fragmented MedTech CRO market presents a compelling opportunity to create a differentiated, scaled, global player dedicated to medical technology.
Having monitored Avania’s development for a long time, we believe that it is the ideal platform to carry out this thesis. Being one of the global leaders in a profitable and fast-growing niche market, Avania squarely fits with Astorg’s investment criteria.”
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