A consortium including Elliott Investment Management is in advanced talks to acquire Syneos Health Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — A consortium including Elliott Investment Management is in advanced talks to acquire Syneos Health Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
The investor group, which also includes former KKR & Co.
dealmaker Jim Momtazee’s Patient Square Capital and Veritas Capital, could announce a deal for the drug-research services company as soon as this week, the people said. North Carolina-based Syneos had a market value of about $4 billion at Tuesday’s close.
Shares of Syneos jumped as much as 17% in pre-market New York trading Wednesday.
No final decision has been made and discussions could fall through, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Representatives for Elliott, Veritas and Syneos didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Patient Square declined to comment.
Lower Guidance
Before Tuesday, Syneos shares had slumped more than 60% from a 2021 high. In November, the company cut its per-share guidance for 2022 and said it had fewer new business awards, prompting investor concern about its business prospects.
A deal would add to a wave of transactions involving companies that support drug development.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in 2021 purchased PPD Inc., a provider of clinical and research services, for $17.4 billion. A few months later, buyout firm EQT AB and Goldman Sachs Asset Management agreed to acquire Parexel for $8.5 billion.
Investors favor the sector as a way to gain exposure to pharmaceutical spending without the risk of investing directly in biotech companies whose success or failure rides on the therapies they’re testing.
Syneos, which helps drug companies conduct clinical trials, was formed through the 2017 merger of INC Research Holdings and InVentiv Health, which had been backed by Thomas H.
Lee Partners and Advent International. They later sold their stake in Syneos.
Buyout Deals
Elliott, run by billionaire Paul Singer, has a private equity affiliate known as Evergreen Coast Capital that has been involved in several large transactions in recent years, including the $16 billion takeover of Nielsen Holdings Plc with Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
New York-based Veritas Capital, led by Ramzi Musallam, teamed up with Elliott to buy health-care technology company Athenahealth in 2018.
They sold control of it to a consortium of private equity firms in a $17 billion deal in 2021. Patient Square Capital is a health-care focused private equity firm started in 2020 by Momtazee.
Reuters reported in February that Syneos was exploring a potential sale.
–With assistance from Kamaron Leach.
(Updates with Syneos shares in third paragraph.)
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