Hurst Morrison Thomson (“HMT”), led by Partner Bruce Morrison and Director Simon Jordan, advised Premier Research Group plc (“PRG”) an international pharmaceutical services group on the simultaneous acquisitions of ARS Clinical (“ARS”) and D-TARGET (“DT”) for up to £11.1m and £6.9m respectively. Both transactions have been funded by increased facilities from Lloyds Bank.

Both acquisitions continue PRG’s buy and build growth strategy, with both complimenting PRG’s existing offering in the market.

ARS is a US based full service CRO specialising in outsourced clinical services, with a strong reputation for data management and Oracle Clinical expertise. It is highly profitable, and brings with it many new customers to the group and a considerable backlog and prospects

D-TARGET is a privately held CRO that specialises in clinical research and regulatory services for medical device, combination products and biologics products manufacturers from all over the world. It si based in Switzerland and has staff in 12 other European countries. D-TARGET has established a strong industry reputation in regulatory compliance services throughout Europe, helping companies to successfully get their products through the CE mark approval process. This is a growth area as more medical device companies outsource this function as the regulatory regime becomes increasingly complex

Commenting on the acquisitions, Dr Simon Yaxley, Chief Executive of Premier Research said:

"We are delighted with both acquisitions. They clearly represent a further important step in our strategy of building a leading international contract research organisation. We are particularly pleased to have been able to structure the acquisitions to enable us to use debt facilities at this time.These two acquisitions have many key attributes in common including excellent industry reputation, top quality staff, a complementary customer base and a strong order book, giving high visibility of future earnings. As with all previous acquisitions since the Company's IPO, these acquisitions are expected to become earnings enhancing within the first full year.Importantly, I believe that both acquisitions offer a number of complementary synergies to the enlarged Group and further strengthen Premier Research's position in the international CRO market.”

Bruce Morrison of HMT commented: “We were delighted to act for PRG on this its eighth and ninth acquisitions in its buy and build strategy, and the fifth and sixth since flotation. We believe that both acquisitions offer considerable growth potential, and provides PRG with an exciting opportunity to continue its success.”

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