News
Growth investment is set to accelerate Polyplus’ expansion in partnership with Warburg Pincus and ArchiMed Apr 29, 2020
Warburg Pincus brings strong healthcare experience and a global network to support innovation and scale-up as Polyplus serves the gene and cell therapy market.
Illkirch, FRANCE, April 29, 2020 –– Polyplus-transfection® SA (“Polyplus”), a developer of innovative and cost-effective technology used in gene and cell therapy, closed on a major investment from Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. Warburg Pincus Investment alongside the existing majority shareholder, European private equity healthcare specialist ArchiMed, will advance the development and sale of Polyplus’ breakthrough solutions for the delivery of nucleic acids (transfection) for research and the biologics-based production of therapeutic drugs and vaccines.
“Backed by their significant experience in healthcare and extensive network of resources, we are confident that Warburg Pincus, alongside ArchiMed, will further accelerate our market leadership by delivering increased value for the customers we serve,” said Gabriel Festoc, Chairman of the Executive Board at PolyGenX, the organization that holds Polyplus. “The investment will enable us to further expand production capacity, fuel continued innovation in products, and support key growth initiatives. We’ll also focus on international expansion and increased hiring across technical, regulatory and commercial support functions,” added Karsten Wilking, CEO of Polyplus.
ArchiMed and Warburg Pincus will be equal shareholders with the same voting rights. Their partnership will enable Polyplus to access the combined resources of both firms and better serve customers. Polyplus Management team will continue to be significant minority shareholders.
“We are excited to partner with ArchiMed and management to support the next phase of growth at Polyplus and drive further innovation in the rapidly expanding gene therapy market,” said TJ Carella, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus. Added Ruoxi Chen, Principal at Warburg Pincus, “Our investment demonstrates Warburg Pincus’ ongoing commitment to life sciences investing and our backing of leading companies that support research innovation and bioproduction. Polyplus is a strong fit with that thesis, and we believe there is a significant opportunity to build it into the leading solutions platform in the category.”
“We’re re-investing an important part of the proceeds from this deal back into Polyplus because we're convinced the management team can drive the company to unprecedented levels of market penetration and profitability,” said Denis Ribon, Chairman of ArchiMed. “Everyone in this deal shares precisely the same vision for the future of Polyplus and this industry.” Added Loïc Kubitza, Partner at ArchiMed, “This investment validates an amazing growth story that’s only becoming more impressive. Polyplus was able to anticipate crucial bioproduction needs in gene and cell therapy far ahead of anybody else, creating superior products that give customers flexibility to scale up bioproduction. With Warburg Pincus joining us, Polyplus’ competitive advantage will widen further.” ArchiMed invested in Polyplus in 2016 through its inaugural €150 million MED I fund. Over four years, Polyplus revenues have increased ten-fold, with ArchiMed holding 90 percent of Polyplus prior to the transaction.
About Polyplus-tranfection
Polyplus-transfection(R) SA is the leading biotechnology company that supports Gene and Cell therapy, along with other biologics manufacturing and life science research with innovative nucleic acid transfection solutions. Polyplus-transfection’s strengths are 20 years of experience in manufacturing transfection solutions with tailored scientific and regulatory support to accelerate research and clinical development. Based on the Science Park close to Strasbourg (France), Polyplus-transfection offers an extensive and growing range of transfection reagents available worldwide. For more information, please visit the Polyplus-transfection web site at: www.polyplus-transfection.com.
About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $54 billion in assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 185 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 19 private equity funds, which have invested more than $83 billion in over 895 companies in more than 40 countries. Since inception, the firm has invested more than $10 billion in more than 150 healthcare companies, including Bausch + Lomb, Sotera Health, and China Biologic Partners (CBPO). The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.
About ArchiMed
ArchiMed is an independent investment firm specialized in the Healthcare industries. It is a strategic and financial partner to European and North American companies operating in the Biopharma, Medtech, Diagnostics, Life Sciences, Healthcare IT, Consumer Health, Public Safety and Care Services sectors.ArchiMed’s international team combines investment, medical, technological and operational experience.It works alongside management teams to accelerate their business growth through internationalization, product and service range expansion as well as capacity extension, both organically and through acquisitions. Over the last 20 years, ArchiMed’s leadership team directly managed and invested in over 40 small, medium and large-size healthcare companies throughout the world, with a combined value above five billion euros. ArchiMed’s investment capacity currently exceeds one billion euros and is potentially twice this amount when including its strategic investment partners. For more information please visit www.archimed-group.eu.
Contact
PolyGenX / Polyplus:
Neil Hunter, neil@ibcomms.agency, +44 (0)20 8943 4685
Gabriel Festoc, gfestoc@polyplus-transfection.com, +33 6 62 22 45 90
Warburg Pincus:
Kerrie Cohen, kerrie.cohen@warburgpincus.com, +1 212 878 9207
ArchiMed:
David Lanchner, dlanchner@lanchner.com, +33 6 33 43 5076
Stéphanie du Ché, stephanie.duche@archimed-group.eu, +33 6 16 36 11 08
ArchiMed Advisors
Financial: Jefferies LLC
Legal and Tax Restructuring: Dechert LLC
Tax: Ernst & Young Global Limited
Warburg Pincus Advisors
Legal: Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Accounting and Tax: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP