CCMP In Talks to Buy Medpace in $500-$600M Deal

CCMP Capital Advisors is in talks to buy Medpace, a Cincinnati-based contract research organization, two sources said.

The deal is valued at roughly $500 to $600 million, one person says.

Founded in 1992, Medpace provides clinical drug development services for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. It employs about 1,000 people globally.

The sale of Medpace was not an auction, one banker says. Instead, CCMP has been in exclusive talks to buy Medpace, the source says.

“[Medpace] has been in the market for a long time,” a PE exec says.

Jefferies, Barclays Capital, BofA Merrill Lynch and SunTrust are leading a $335 million loan for Medpace that will back CCMP’s buy, said Standard & Poor’s LCD. Investors are putting 48% equity into the deal. Medpace’s management is retaining a 20% stake, LCD said.

Thomson Reuters Loan Pricing Corp. said CCMP is injecting $207.5 million equity to support the Medpace buy. Management is contributing another $50 million equity, LPC said.

New York-based CCMP is the former JP Morgan Partners (they spun out of JP Morgan in 2006). CCMP typically invests $100 million to $500 million per deal. Sectors include industrial, energy, healthcare and consumer/retail & media. CCMP’s last fund raised $3.4 billion in 2007.

The sale of Medpace is the latest involving a CRO. JLL Partners this week sold PharmaNet Development Group to inVentiv Health, which is owned by Thomas H. Lee Partners.

A spokeswoman for CCMP declined comment. Medpace could not be reached for comment.