MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NuChem Therapeutics Inc., a drug discovery and development contract research organization (CRO) located in Montreal and specializing in medicinal and synthetic chemistry services, has completed a successful Management Buyout transaction (“MBO”).
Senior management of the company, comprised of Marc LeBel, Daniel Guay, Marc Janes and John Mancuso, acquired 95% of the voting shares from Amorchem LP, the venture capital fund which founded NuChem in 2011.
“The present economic situation allows us to forecast strong growth at NuChem over the next few years. Our success is propelled by the company’s exacting attention to client satisfaction, a highly engaged scientific team and our expansion into a customized and dedicated facility,” says Marc LeBel, President. “The team greatly appreciates the openness with which AmorChem approached the MBO, as well as the opportunity the fund offered to us with the original starting up of NuChem,” continues Daniel Guay, Chief Scientific Officer.
“The thriving growth of NuChem is a testament to the dedication of its scientists, management and board of directors. We are very proud to have played an active part in building the story over the years. This sale of our position in NuChem confirms our belief in the business model we proposed to our limited partners at the beginning of the fund. With this experienced management in the driver’s seat, the company’s future is in skilled hands,” said Inès Holzbaur, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at AmorChem.
The transaction was made possible by the financial support of Investissement Québec (IQ) and Fonds de Transfert d’Entreprises du Québec. The IQ team quickly understood and adapted to the particularities of the transaction, making IQ a natural partner.
“We are proud to team up with NuChem Therapeutics inc. and to provide them with the needed support to continue their growth. With our support, NuChem can now own its expansion and continue to advance Health Sciences research, said Pierre Gabriel Côté, President and CEO, Investissement Québec.
ABOUT NUCHEM THERAPEUTICS INC
NuChem Therapeutics (www.nuchemtherapeutics.com) offers a variety of services to support international biotech and pharmaceuticals industries, to help identify and optimise pre-clinical candidates in the area of small molecule drug discovery and early development. Since its inception in 2011, NuChem has contributed to the discovery of several new drug candidates which have progressed to human clinical trials. NuChem focuses on scientific excellence and has a team of more than 35 scientists (MSc and PhD).
ABOUT AMORCHEM
AmorChem (www.amorchem.com) is a leading early-stage, venture capital fund located in Montreal focused on creating promising life science companies from technologies originating primarily from Quebec-based universities and research centres. Launched in 2011, the AmorChem fund model combines access to financial resources with a virtual incubator structure that enables the rapid development and commercialization of its technologies. The first fund (41.2M$) has built a portfolio of 24 technologies and successfully transacted two pharma exits as well as spun-out five companies. The attractiveness of this seed fund model and the role it plays in the investment ecosystem were highlighted in September 2017 with the launch of the AmorChem II Fund, which now totals $45.7M.
