Blackstone buys Australia clinical trials specialist
The Blackstone Group has acquired Nucleus Network, which claims to be Australia’s largest phase-one clinical trials provider, for an undisclosed sum. It provides an exit for local GP Crescent Capital Partners.
Crescent bought Nucleus Network from heart disease and diabetes-focused researcher The Baker Institute for an undisclosed sum in 2018. The private equity firm is now selling for at least A$600 million ($450 million), according to The Australian Financial Review.
Blackstone is investing via its global life sciences platform, BXLS, which is active across private equity, real estate, and credit. BXLS has about $7 billion under management and closed its fifth fund last year at $4.6 billion. This is the largest life science-focused private vehicle ever raised. The fund has deployed almost $1 billion in the past three months.
Nucleus Network claims to be the only phase-one specialist globally with clinical trial facilities in the US and Australia. Since its establishment in 2004, it has conducted more than 1,000 trials for biotech and pharma companies, with a significant client base in Asia, including China.
The company’s clinics offer around 200 beds, infrastructure for high-volume biosimilar studies, onsite dialysis capabilities, and specialist Parkinson’s disease equipment. They also provide access to medical, research, and biotech precincts such as the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Brisbane, and Medical Alley in Minnesota.
In a statement, Blackstone described Australia as a globally leading destination for clinical trials supported by an open regulatory regime, strong talent pool, and distinguished research and healthcare facilities. It expects phase-one trials in the country to grow significantly on the back of rising demand from offshore biotech companies.
Several global and regional private equity firms have followed this theme with Sydney-based Novotech, which is reportedly worth up to $3 billion and currently targeting a Hong Kong IPO.
Novotech, which focuses on the China-Australia corridor in contract biotech services, was acquired by TPG Capital in 2017 for an enterprise valuation of A$392 million, providing a 15.7x return for Mercury Capital, which had acquired a 30% stake in 2013. Earlier this year, a group including GIC and Sequoia Capital bought a 10% interest for $230 million.
Blackstone’s recent life sciences activity around the region includes the carve-out of an over-the-counter medicines division of Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals, since renamed Alinamin Pharmaceutical. That followed the acquisition of Japan’s Ayumi Pharmaceutical in 2019 from Unison Capital for about $1 billion.
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