Beringea’s portfolio company Altacor has been acquired by Esperante, a Netherlands-based life science investment company, for an undisclosed sum.
Beringea first invested in Altacor in 2007.
Altacor is a specialty ophthalmology company with a portfolio of eight marketed pharmaceutical products. The company differentiates its development products primarily through formulation or re-profiling existing compounds with established clinical activity and systemic safety.
Esperante is the investment arm of the C&P Group, a global, privately owned group of life science businesses including Nordic Pharma, a fully-integrated, pan-European pharmaceutical and services company, PolyPeptide Laboratories, a global peptide bulk drug actives producer and Euro-Diagnostica, a European-based immunology in vitro diagnostics business. Under Esperante's stewardship, Altacor will continue to operate as a specialty ophthalmology company.
Dr Stephane Mery, partner at Beringea, says: “Since Beringea’s initial investment, Altacor has exhibited continued growth and we are delighted to have worked with such an exceptional management team. Esperante’s purchase of Altacor will enable the company to continue its path towards becoming a European leader in the ophthalmology market.”
Dean Slagel, managing director of Esperante, says: "Esperante has been a minority investor in Altacor for the past five years and we are now very excited to be acquiring the entire business to propel Altacor's promising product and pipeline product portfolio towards an ever more successful and profitable level. We look forward to achieving these objectives in close collaboration with Altacor's well-proven management team."
Dr Fran Crawford, CEO of Altacor, says: "We are extremely pleased that Altacor has been acquired by Esperante and that it plans to pursue and expand the company's existing strategy within a holding group that has a successful track record in building European businesses. I am also delighted that our staff will all remain in position and will continue to drive product sales and pipeline development in the company's chosen markets."