Unilever Ventures and FF&P Private Equity Sell BAC

Unilever Ventures and FF&P Private Equity, the private equity arm of Fleming Family & Partners, have realised their investment in BAC. The business has been sold to Life Technologies Corporation. BAC is a developer of affinity ligands and affinity purification products.

PRESS RELEASE

Unilever Ventures and FF&P Private Equity, the private equity arm of Fleming Family & Partners, have profitably realised their investment in BAC BV (BAC) following the sale of the company to Life Technologies Corporation. BAC is a leader in the discovery, development and manufacture of affinity ligands and affinity purification products. The acquisition expands Life’s capabilities and product offerings in the growing market of biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing. Terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Unilever Ventures invested in the business in 2002, after spinning the technology out from the Unilever Vlaardingen R&D facility in the Netherlands. In 2005 BAC completed a Series A Investment round led by Unilever Ventures and FF&P Private Equity. Since then BAC has developed its CaptureSelect® technology platform. This now comprises purification and affinity separation products used for the discovery, preclinical and clinical manufacture of therapeutic proteins, including antibodies and antibody fragments. BAC’s products enable a reduced time to market, increased purity and yield and an overall lower cost of goods for biopharmaceutical drug development.

“Our acquisition of BAC BV positions Life Technologies as a leading provider of end-to-end solutions that are widely utilized in the bioprocess workflow,” said Tony Hunt, head of BioProduction at Life Technologies. “Combining BAC’s current portfolio and pipeline with our pre-existing portfolio expands Life’s product offering and enables us to compete more fully across the protein purification market. We intend to immediately integrate the portfolios and leverage the Life commercial platform to drive accelerated growth in this market.”

Andrew Lane, who represented Unilever Ventures on the board of BAC said “We want to congratulate CEO Laurens Sierkstra and the entire BAC team for what they have achieved. We are delighted to have invested in such a fantastic company and we wish them every success in the future”.

Dan Walker, investment director of FF&P Private Equity and board director of BAC commented “With their commitment and innovation, Laurens and his team have done a great job of creating value in the BAC business. With the support of Life Technologies we think that the business will continue to thrive and grow”.

ENDS
About Unilever Ventures
Formed in 2002, UV is the European venture capital arm of Unilever. UV has funds under management in its first two funds of euro 200M and a current portfolio of 17 businesses, originating both externally and from within Unilever. Wholly-owned and funded by its parent, UV operates as an independent VC Fund, and is regulated and authorized by the UK Financial Services Authority. UV typically invests in early stage technology driven facing companies, seeking investments which could; become strategically relevant to Unilever, benefit from access to Unilever’s IP assets and capabilities, or provide high-value services to Unilever. Visit us at our website: http://www.unileverventures.com
About FF&P Private Equity
FF&P Private Equity is focused on investing in dynamic, growth companies in the UK lower-to-mid market. It invests between £3m – £15m in companies valued from £5m to £50m in a variety of situations including minority investments, management buyouts / buy-ins, development and replacement capital. Through its extensive network of contacts and working in partnership with its investors and portfolio companies, it aims to create market-leading companies that deliver superior returns to all shareholders.
FF&P Private Equity Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Services Authority. www.ffandp.com/private-equity