As a single company, the new entity will be made up of more than 22,000 employees across more than 60 countries, and will be able to serve customers in more than 110 countries.
“We’re in in a business where scale counts – and this makes us a top three CRO,” Alistair Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of INC Research, told Outsourcing-Pharma.com. “[The merger] gives us the scale that we need in all different countries around the world.”
Michael Bell, CEO of inVentiv Health echoed the sentiment, telling us the company identified the need to gain scale and increase its global presence early on – and INC is “a perfect fit” for inVentiv’s deficiencies.
“It’s about as good of a fit that we could have hoped for, and really unique in the industry,” Bell said.
Concurrently, Macdonald explained the merger gives the companies the ability to deliver different models – including full service, hybrid, and FSP – to any size company in any country.
The new biopharmaceutical solutions organization, which will be headquartered in Raleigh, NC, will have combined net revenue of more than $3.2bn and a combined enterprise value of approximately $7.4bn.
Integration
As Macdonald explained, the companies are looking to bring the best of both INC Research and inVentiv to the newly combined organization, though integration will be difficult because of the scale.
“The challenge is not to be underestimated,” he added, “but it’s something we have a lot of experience with.”
While overlapping roles are to be expected, and some functions will be able to be consolidated, the companies currently have no firm plans as it pertains to restructuring.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2017 at which time Macdonald will become CEO of the combined company and Bell will serve as executive chairman.
The combined Board of Directors will consist of 10 directors, five designated by each respective company, including both Macdonald and Bell.