Since it first formed a partnership with GHO in 2019, Sterling has grown rapidly tripling its revenues and quadrupling earnings, the companies say.
GHO is a European specialist investor in healthcare worldwide while Partners Group is a private markets firm and Sterling, a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
Sterling provides a full range of CDMO services 'across the lifecycle of new, high-value active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)' and quotes itself as an industry leader in the early-stage development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), a fast-growing class of cancer treatments.
Kevin Cook, CEO at Sterling said: “We have achieved remarkable growth over the last four years becoming a trusted partner to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. We are proud of our success in meeting the often complex and demanding manufacturing needs of our customers on an international scale.”
Cook said continued sustainable growth has been underpinned by its partnership with GHO Capital, which has been instrumental in their success to date.
He added: “We are delighted to welcome Partners Group, which, alongside GHO, will support our ambitious global growth trajectory. We look forward to continuing to provide industry leading service throughout the entire product lifecycle, to an ever-expanding international customer base.”
Sterling says it focuses on handling the development of complex APIs and subsequent scaling up of manufacturing from pre-clinical to commercial scale. The company has five state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in the US, UK, and Ireland. It also says it benefits from a ‘diversified blue-chip customer base’ and is a ‘supply chain partner for the majority of the largest pharmaceutical companies.
Since partnering with GHO in 2019, Sterling says it has grown rapidly and has transformed from a single-site UK CDMO to a global full-service complex small molecule API platform with differentiated chemistry capabilities.
Sterling’s acquisition of Novartis’ Ringaskiddy site saw the company significantly increase its capacity, which included a long-term supply agreement with Novartis – which the company says reinforced Sterling’s outstanding reputation within the pharmaceutical industry.
Partners Group has acquired a significant minority stake, bringing its knowledge of international healthcare, helping drive ‘future value creation’.
GHO will remain Sterling’s majority shareholder and the current management team will continue to lead the company. This new investment from GHO is supported by a consortium of investors, led by funds managed by AlpInvest Partners, a subsidiary of global investment firm Carlyle and Pantheon.
The partners at GHO Capital said: “We partner with management teams to deliver the healthcare of the future. Sterling is a leading example of how our deep industry expertise, combined with the GHO growth playbook, can generate long-term, sustainable value. We are immensely proud of the business that Sterling has become.”
