April 4, 2022
Translink Corporate Finance in the UK advised a rapidly growing contract research organisation, Peak Proteins, on the 100% sale to a leading independent integrated drug discovery and non-clinical services company, Sygnature Discovery.
Peak Proteins was set up in 2014 by scientists previously from AstraZeneca’s protein biochemistry and structural biology groups. Spearheaded by CEO, Mark Abbott, the company now employs 35 people, most of whom are scientists. Peak Proteins will continue to operate out of their new research facility in Macclesfield, near Sygnature’s Alderley Edge site. The
Peak Proteins leadership team will also remain with the business.
Its core technologies include protein expression and purification, alongside protein crystallography, structure determination and mass spectrometry services. The acquisition will expand the scope of Sygnature’s in-house drug development capabilities, bringing increased value to partner projects and future patients. Peak Proteins has collaborated closely with Sygnature Discovery for several years and together the companies have supported several integrated drug discovery programmes.
The acquisition is part of Sygnature’s strategic plan to continuously invest in the expansion of its drug discovery capabilities. Steve Young, Sygnature Discovery VP of Business Development, says: “The Peak Proteins expertise will sit perfectly alongside our HTS and extensive biophysics capabilities. Their world-class expertise in protein crystallography will enhance our fragment screening and analysis activities, as well as our structure-based drug design work.”
Mark Abbott, CEO of Peak Proteins, said: “We have always valued Sygnature Discovery’s support and are now really pleased to be joining them. It will enable us to work more closely on integrated projects in addition to our existing client base where we provide both proteins and protein structural information on a very wide range of proteins to clients across the world.”
This transaction represents the fourth acquisition that Sygnature Discovery has made in the last four years, and the first since Five Arrows Principal Investments made a significant equity investment in the company in 2021.
Sygnature Discovery’s CEO, Simon Hirst, stated: “We are delighted to welcome Peak Proteins and its talented scientists to the Sygnature family. Accessing high quality proteins efficiently is often a major stumbling for projects and protein structural information is still the gold standard when it comes to drug design. The closer integration of Peak Proteins into our projects will be extremely powerful in driving programmes forward.”
Translink Corporate Finance is an independent partnership of firms dedicated to Corporate Finance and M&A advisory services across 35+ countries in the key markets in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Translink has been successful in advising clients on thousands of transactions since its founding in 1972 and Translink offices have acted as advisers in over 100 M&A projects during the last twelve months.
Contact our Team Members advising in this transaction:
Translink UK – IMA is a very agile, dynamic and active UK corporate finance firm focused on generating the best possible outcomes and experience for our clients. Operating across the UK from our base in the Midlands, just 1 hour north of London, the typical size of our transactions ranges from £5m to £100m and involve privately or family-owned entrepreneurial businesses.
