The US-based Life Science Connect (LSC), which was last year acquired by private equity from its long-term family owners for an enterprise value estimated to be some $100mn (10x EBITDA, 3x revenue), has made its long-awaited first acquisition. The B2B publisher and events organizer – whose shareholders include Sean Griffey (co-founder of Industry Dive), Douglas Emslie (Tarsus Group) and Don Hawk (TechTarget) – has acquired Life Science Networks (LSN), in the UK.
The events company LSN was founded as an online community in 2023 by former Informa executives Luke Bilton, Chris Kilbee and Sandy Voss whose company will now become the events division of LSC , of which they will be SVPs.
Its primary event is the confex-meetings format CDMO Live (in Rotterdam, and launching also in Boston in October). The events target the contractors (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations) to which big pharma outsource much of the development of medications and vaccines.
LSN is believed to have revenue of some £2-3mn and employs nine people. The company had originally launched mid-Covid (when CDMOs were booming) with the Pharmasource podcast which has now published 240 episodes. Doug Emslie, who will be closely involved in the development of the business, has known the LSN founders since the 2023 launch. Negotiations had begun this year. The ‘new’ events division is expected to make further acquisitions soon.
