Symeres acquires Oncolines, further strengthening its drug discovery and biology capabilities

Nijmegen, the Netherlands: Symeres, a leading global drug discovery Contract Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), today announces the acquisition of Oncolines, a Netherlands-based CRO that provides early biology services and cell-line profiling assays. Oncolines is Symeres’ third acquisition in the past ten months, and will take group revenues to over €100m.

Keensight Capital, one of the leading private equity managers dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout investments¹ and the majority shareholder in Symeres, has worked together with the management teams of both companies to facilitate this business combination.

Oncolines, part of NTRC Holding, and based in Oss, the Netherlands, is a high-quality CRO that offers precision medicine services in the fields of oncology and immunotherapy. Their mission is to help clients bring improved and novel therapies to the right patient population, faster. Clients are clinical and pre-clinical biopharma customers that seek to differentiate their drug candidates. The company offers cancer cell-line profiling assays through a panel of over 200 cell lines, combination studies to identify novel synergies and mechanistic cell biology. The business employs approximately 20 FTEs and will remain under the management of the Co-Founder and current Managing Director, Dr. Guido Zaman.

This acquisition complements Symeres’ drug discovery capabilities with high-quality biology and biophysics capabilities in oncology. Symeres will extend Oncolines’ services across the broader Symeres platform, resulting in a more integrated offering to better service new and existing customers. The business is located 25 km from Symeres headquarters, further contributing to the seamless integration of its offering into Symeres’ portfolio.

Dr. Guido Zaman, Managing Director of Oncolines, stated: “We are excited to be joining Symeres, a leading transatlantic drug discovery contract research, development and manufacturing organization with over 30 years of drug discovery and synthetic and medical chemistry expertise. Partnering our biology and cell-line profiling capabilities with Symeres’ larger scale in North America and Europe is a natural fit, both for our employees and customers.”       

Dr. Eelco Ebbers, Co-Founder and CEO of Symeres, stated: “We are delighted to welcome Oncolines into the Symeres Group. Working with, and getting to know, Guido has been a rewarding experience and there is a clear cultural fit and alignment in strategic vision. The acquisition captures an exciting opportunity for Symeres in oncology and immunotherapy as well as personalized medicine.”

Amit Karna, Partner at Keensight Capital, added: “We are pleased to support Symeres in the acquisition of Oncolines. We are convinced of the strategic, geographic, and cultural fit of the combination, and the complementarity of Oncolines’ capabilities in oncology-focused in-vitro pharmacology.”

Saola Healthcare Partners acted as strategic and financial advisor, 3D PharmXchange as operational and commercial due diligence advisor, Van Doorne as legal advisor, and PWC as financial due diligence advisor to Symeres.

¹Growth Buyout: investment in profitable, private companies experiencing strong growth, in minority or majority positions, with or without leverage, using a flexible approach tailored to the needs of individual entrepreneurs, in order to finance organic growth projects, acquisition strategies or provide historic shareholders with liquidity.