MycoScience & Ethide Laboratories
Middle Branch Partners advised Mycoscience & Ethide Laboratories during acquisiton by Millstone Medical Outsourcing
About MycoScience & Ethide labs
Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories are MedTech contract manufacturing and testing businesses based in Willington, Connecticut and West Warwick, Rhode Island respectively. They specialize in solving the challenges of start-up product scaling and process development and providing customers with next-level communication, expert guidance, and laboratory testing service combining speed with excellence. This includes syringe & vial filling of gels and highly viscous materials and EO residual and microbiology testing for medical device and pharmaceutical applications. They also perform a variety of regulatory testing services with expertise in getting challenging products to a commercial stage as soon as possible. The firms had different ownership structure however there was one common private individual owner. This shareholder approached the Middle Branch Partners due to our deep industry knowledge in selling core assets to a third party for a liquidity event for ownership.
Our Work
M&A Strategy
Due to the very specialized nature of the company’s testing and filling services, a buyer must have very close strategic alignment, especially with the customer base. This allowed us to target our known mall select group of buyer prospects for the MedTech company without a broad unfocused approach to the market.
M&A Due Diligence
To prepare for contacting potential buyers, our advisors performed a careful review of Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories. Our team then created and contacted a very shortlist of strategically aligned prospective buyers.
Evaluating a Buyer
After creating and contacting our shortlist, Middle Branch Partners found a potential mutually beneficial arrangement between Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories and Millstone Medical Outsourcing, an Arlington Capital-owned and Rhode Island-based post-manufacturing and aftermarket services business. Their strategic focus is on the long-term growth of their customers and capabilities across MedTech categories. Our team evaluated Millstone to see if merging with them would meet Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories ownership’s objectives. This included an ongoing leadership role for key ownership and management.
Negotiating the Acquisition
Millstone found Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories an attractive acquisition because of its unique capabilities, strategic fit and expanded service offerings to existing and future customers. Once it was determined that proceeding with the deal was mutually beneficial, our advisors began negotiating the terms of the acquisition with both the buyer and seller.
Results
Millstone Medical Outsourcing purchased 100% of the assets of Mycoscience and Ethide Laboratories in one complex simultaneous transaction involving the separate ownership structures of the two businesses. The purchasing arrangement was cash with a rollover equity position for leadership and was consummated on a short timetable.
“Over the last 30 years, MycoScience has helped our customers bring amazing new devices and medicines to market for better patient outcomes. Now, as we begin a new chapter with Millstone, we look forward to continuing to apply our expertise to product testing, quality, and advancements as a part of the industry partner of choice.”
CEO, MycoScience