Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners closed a joint single-asset deal for Eversana, with nearly $1.75 billion total equity commitments, as first reported by Buyouts and confirmed by Axios.
Why it matters: Chicago's Eversana is one of the largest players in life sciences commercialization and is an active consolidator. Now that its investors have more time and money, expect M&A to follow.
- With the continuation vehicle, there is specific capital set aside for acquisitions, one source tells Axios.
- The pair of investors formed "Pegasus" to raise more capital to advance Eversana's strategic expansion, the firms tell Axios.
State of play: While a flurry of pharma commercialization companies has attracted PE capital in the last year, Eversana's big differentiator is its digital skillset.
- Eversana is one of the “go-to firms” for creating a digital presence during product launches, one source notes. (The other would be Klick Health.)
- Other deals brewing include Amulet Capital's Open Health and RevHealth, both of which are working with Houlihan Lokey on processes, as we previously reported.
The backstory: The continuation fund closed in March, Buyouts says, coming on the heels of its InTouch Group acquisition.
- The continuation vehicle helped to fund its deal for the pharma marketing agency, one source says. The deal was valued close to $1 billion, Axios reported in October.
- Eversana’s investors worked with Evercore as a secondary adviser on the process.