Ventiv goes on a shopping spree
buying Aheris in February, the company has since agreed to acquire
US clinical services provider Synergos, as well as Canadian
healthcare marketing and communications agency, Jeffrey Simbrow
Associates. Meanwhile, Ventiv has also expanded an existing sales
contract with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Ventive, a global provider of commercialisation services to the pharma industry, bought Synergos this week in a deal worth $5.75m (€4.8) in cash and stock, plus earn-out payments for exceeding financial targets.
"The acquisition of Synergos is a great addition to the existing service offerings we have developed at Ventiv," said Michael Hlinak, president of Ventiv Clinical Solutions.
"In addition to covering a variety of indications, including cardiovascular, CNS disease, dermatology, infectious disease, musculoskeletal and oncology, Synergos adds synergistic services to the company, including clinical trial monitoring and project management, regulatory affairs and medical writing," he said.
Synergos will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ventiv and will be integrated into Ventiv's Clinical Solutions group and the deal, due to complete at the end of April, is expected to be immediately accretive to Ventiv's earnings.
"We have built a high-quality clinical services group with dedicated clients and our capabilities are highly complementary with Ventiv's," said Jaye Thompson, CEO of Synergos.
"This acquisition strengthens our Clinical group's presence in the biotech, medical device and emerging pharmaceutical markets," said Eran Broshy, CEO of Ventiv Health.
This week, Ventiv also announced the acquisition of Jeffrey Simbrow Associates (JSAI), Canada's largest healthcare marketing and communications agency, for CAD$10m in cash and stock, plus earn-out payments for exceeding financial targets.
JSAI will operate under Ventiv's inChord Communications division, which provides global advertising and marketing services, and will strengthen inChord's global capabilities by functioning as the Canadian affiliate within the division, developing and executing marketing campaigns throughout Canada.
"As our clients are increasingly looking to us for support with their global advertising campaigns, having strong partners in the key markets is critical," said Phil Deschamps, CEO of GSW Worldwide, one of inChord's global advertising agencies.
"JSAI is an ideal partner, not only because of their exceptional expertise in Canada, but because their services broaden our overall collection of capabilities," he said.
JSAI's capabilities include strategic counsel, pharmaceutical and direct to consumer (DTC) marketing expertise.
In addition, JSAI adds a professional training capability for healthcare marketers to Ventiv's range of services, including interactive skill-based seminars designed to enhance the competencies of healthcare marketing executives.
"JSAI's long-term relationships with clients make it a particularly strong addition to our overall services offerings and geographic mix," said Eran Broshy, Ventiv's CEO.
Upon the close of the transaction, expected in early April, JSAI will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ventiv and is expected to be immediately accretive to Ventiv's earnings.
These two acquisitions follow closely behind last month's purchase of US firm Adheris, a provider of patient adherence programs, in a deal, worth $60m in cash and shares, which was finalised earlier this month.
Adheris adds a unique patient education component to the Ventiv Health portfolio and complements a number of its existing patient and physician-level education services.
Amidst all the buying activity, Ventiv still managed to find the time to expand an existing sales contract with pharma giant Boehringer Ingelheim.
Ventiv will provide Boehringer with a sales team and supporting sales management for it's national primary care sales organisation, in addition to a full suite of sales and marketing services to support the company's expanded sales effort.
