Houlihan Lokey Advises Advarra

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Advarra has been acquired by Genstar Capital (Genstar) from Linden Capital Partners (Linden), which has reinvested in Advarra via a minority investment. The transaction closed on July 9, 2019.

Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Advarra is the premier provider of institutional review board (IRB), institutional biosafety committee (IBC), and research quality and compliance services, which are mandated by regulatory agencies for all trial protocols, patient forms, site initiations, and trial modifications. The company serves leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and contract research organizations (CROs) as well as academic medical centers, hospital systems, investigative site networks, and therapeutic research consortia, and has relationships with more than 3,200 institutional sites.

Linden is a Chicago-based private equity firm focused exclusively on investing in the healthcare industry. The firm's strategy is based upon three elements: healthcare specialization, integrated private equity and operating expertise, and strategic relationships with large corporations. Linden invests in middle-market platforms across the medical products, specialty distribution, pharmaceutical, and services segments of healthcare.

Genstar is a San Francisco-based private equity firm that has been actively investing in high-quality companies for over 30 years. The firm works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $17 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the healthcare, software, industrial technology, and financial services industries.

Advarra was formed in November 2017 through the combination of the research industry's two most respected IRBs: Chesapeake IRB and Schulman IRB. Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to Schulman IRB on its investment from American Capital Equity (now operating as Northlane Capital Partners) in December 2014. Houlihan Lokey also served as financial advisor to Chesapeake IRB on its sale to Linden in December 2015 as well as its merger with Schulman IRB to form Advarra two years later. The recent sale of Advarra is another example of Houlihan Lokey's long-term approach to client partnerships.

Houlihan Lokey served as co-financial advisor to Linden and Advarra.