Keensight Capital, one of the leading private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investments, has reached an agreement to invest alongside management in Axxam, a profitable and leading innovative Partner Research Organization (“iPRO”) in the life sciences industry. According to the terms of the agreement, Keensight Capital will acquire a majority stake in Axxam from the current shareholders, including Bayer SpA and Zambon Company SpA.
Axxam (the “Company”), headquartered in Milan (Italy), employs around 180 people, most of whom have received PhDs in life sciences related disciplines. The Company is one of the largest biology-centric organizations, providing research services to major life sciences companies around the globe.
Axxam has significant expertise across a range of discovery disciplines and specialized technologies including: target assessment, assay development, high-throughput screening, compound management, hit identification and hit validation services. Axxam works with both its own, high quality, internally developed compound collections (synthetic and natural) and those provided by clients and partners.
The Company operates from three sites, two in Italy (Milan, Naples) and one in Germany (Constance), and has an extended commercial presence in Europe and the United States. Over several years, the Company has enjoyed a strong profitable growth trajectory. It has generated an annual organic revenue growth rate above double-digits and reached approximately €30 million of sales in 2021.
Keensight Capital intends to support the management team, led by the two co-founders Dr. Stefan Lohmer and Dr. Alessandro Sidoli, as well as Chief Financial Officer Luigi Gavazzeni, in pursuing and accelerating the growth of the Company to realise its significant potential.
Dr. Stefan Lohmer and Dr. Alessandro Sidoli, co-founders and co-CEOs of Axxam stated: “We are very excited to continue our mission building upon what we have created at Axxam over the last 20 years. It is our ambition to be the best-in-class, most innovative, biology-centric integrated research company globally, covering all steps from target assessment to lead discovery. With Keensight Capital’s investment today, we believe we are taking a significant step forward in achieving this vision and maintaining our heritage in providing our customers with best-in-class, science-driven services. We are sincerely delighted to enter into this partnership with Keensight and look forward to what the future holds for Axxam.”
Amit Karna, Partner at Keensight Capital, added: “Axxam is a true pioneer and leader in its field, one of the few biology-centric drug research partners globally. Many clients have benefited from compounds identified and advanced by Axxam’s specialized research techniques and brilliant scientists. In addition, Axxam’s client-focused model perfectly fits our strategy of investing in highly profitable, fast-growing leaders in attractive and resilient niches of the healthcare and technology industries. It is a real honor for us to be able to partner with Axxam’s founders and management team.”
More info: https://axxam.com/