PE Deals

Five Arrows-backed Sygnature buys Canada’s NuChem Sciences

NuChem Sciences is a Montreal-based drug discovery and chemical development contract research organization.

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  • NuChem in 2019 closed a management buyout, spinning off from AmorChem, and has since been backed by BDC Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec
  • UK-based Sygnature Discovery is a provider of outsourced drug discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
  • Five Arrows Principal Investments, the European private equity arm of Rothschild & Co, acquired Sygnature in 2021

Sygnature Discovery, backed by Five Arrows Principal Investments, has acquired NuChem Sciences, a Montreal-based drug discovery and chemical development contract research organization. No financial details of the transaction were disclosed.

NuChem Sciences employs more than 300 staff across centres of excellence in Montreal and Quebec City, where the company will continue to operate and drive further market expansion across North America.

Based in Nottingham, England, Sygnature is a provider of outsourced drug discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The deal creates a competitive advantage for Sygnature as it expands its global footprint and business operations to leverage discovery expertise in the North American market, the company said in a statement.

“The addition of NuChem Sciences greatly enhances Sygnature Discovery’s offering, making us a highly differentiated and integrated drug discovery partner with unrivalled scale and range. NuChem is a like-minded business that complements Sygnature’s existing services, towards our joint mission of improving the world’s health,” said Dr Simon Hirst, CEO at Sygnature.

NuChem closed a management buyout, spinning off from AmorChem, a Canadian early-stage life sciences venture capital firm, in 2019. The company has since been backed by BDC Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Investissement Québec.

Five Arrows Principal Investments, the European private equity arm of Rothschild & Co, acquired Sygnature in 2021 from Phoenix Equity Partners.

NuChem is the third in a series of acquisitions over the last sixteen months that have formed part of Sygnature’s growth following the investment by Five Arrows.