LDC set for swoop on biotech firm

MANCHESTER-based biotch firm Synexus on the verge of being taken over by the private equity investment arm of Lloyds Banking Group in a £100m deal.

Synexus, which specialisis in running clinical trials for the world’s drug developers, was put on the market by owner Lyceum Capital towards the end of 2014 and talks with potential buyer LDC are believed to be at an advanced stage.

It currently works alongside the sectors big hitters Astra Zeneca, Bayer and Glaxo Smith Kline and has more than 14,000 patients in trials and about 180 staff

Synexus – launched in 1992 by a GP – was acquired by Lyceum in 2007 for £18m, just  24 months after it was floated on the AIM market.

It now has research hubs in UK, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and South Africa.

LDC is reported to be in exclusive talks – still ongoing – to buy Synexus, after a competitive auction against a raft of other mid-market private equity companies.

All parties declined to comment.