Everest Clinical Research has acquired fellow CRO Brightech International to bolster its biostatistics, programming, and clinical data management services.
The deal – financial terms of which were not disclosed – will also add Brightech’s headquarters in New Jersey and its office in Taiwan to Toronto, Canada-based Everest’s business.
Brightech will continue to be led by company founder Tai Xie and the existing management team will remain in place according to Everest CEO Irene Zhang.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Dr. Xie and his entire team as we continue to expand Everest’s world-class capabilities. Brightech brings with it a highly educated, experienced, and dedicated workforce, including numerous PhDs and master’s degree holders.
“With our combined deep bench of biostatistical and clinical data management capabilities, Everest’s broader full-service clinical trial services, and now over 520 employees globally, we will be even better positioned to solve our clients’ most challenging problems.”
In response, Xie predicted “Everest’s scale, resources, and infrastructure will allow us to broaden the scope of our services to existing and future customers while also providing our employees with even more opportunities.”
PE driven growth
The acquisition comes after US private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Everest.
Malcolm Little, a partner at Arlington, hinted that Brightech would not be Everest’s only acquisition.
“The highly complementary Brightech acquisition is a great start towards accelerating Everest’s inorganic growth.
“Together, the combined businesses will be better suited to pursue investment opportunities that strengthen existing centers of excellence, add new services, and increase geographic reach.
He continued: “We look forward to supporting Everest’s continued growth through further investments in people, processes, and additional acquisitions.”
This was echoed by colleague Bilal Noor, who said “this investment further expands and diversifies Everest’s blue-chip customer base while also deepening the platform’s core capabilities in fast-growing therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Central Nervous System, and Immunology.”
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