Red Nucleus Announces Majority Investment from THL Partners

Barchart · 10/17 12:00

Red Nucleus ( “the Company”), a leading provider of strategic services across research and development, medical affairs, market access, and learning and development, today announced that it has received a majority investment from THL Partners (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies. The strategic partnership will help broaden the Company’s suite of commercialization services for its global customer base.

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The Company further announced that current CEO Ian Kelly is moving into the role of Chief Relationship Officer, with a focus on strengthening customer engagements, and will also serve as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. He will be succeeded as CEO by industry veteran Mike Menta, who previously led the Consulting and Enterprise Solutions divisions at Syneos Health, a leading biopharmaceutical solutions organization.

Founded over 30 years ago, Red Nucleus claims a global team of 700 professionals across seven countries. The Company applies a wealth of scientific, process, training, and market access expertise to support the world’s leading life science organizations in bringing innovative therapies to market. Red Nucleus serves more than 200 organizations, including innovative biotech start-ups and the majority of the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies by market capitalization, helping advance life sciences solutions and improve patient health outcomes globally.

“When I founded, I had a vision to fill a critical gap in the pharmaceutical value chain,” said Kelly. “I’m proud of the work we’ve done for our customers and the very real impact we’ve had on the lives of patients, and I’m thrilled to partner with Mike Menta as we build on this strong foundation and expand that impact in the years to come.”

“In a moment when scientific breakthroughs are contributing to the production of life-saving and life-changing therapies, the mission at Red Nucleus could not be more critical,” said Menta. “The company is instrumental in helping its customers move new molecules to market. We have a unique opportunity to broaden and deepen that work, and I could not be more excited to work with such a talented and dedicated team of professionals.”

“With Mike Menta at the helm, and Ian Kelly in an important new leadership role, Red Nucleus is uniquely positioned for success,” said Megan Preiner, Managing Director, THL. “Mike’s two decades of work in Clinical, Medical and Commercial roles establish him as a recognized leader in pharmaceutical commercialization, and Ian’s industry knowledge and deep customer affinity make him an invaluable part of the company’s next growth stage. It’s the right team, for the right company, at the right moment.”

THL invested in Red Nucleus through its flagship Fund IX. The transaction closed on October 17, 2024. The firm has been active in pharma services for over 25 years, with investments that include Fisher Scientific, PCI Pharma Services, Syneos Health, CSafe, and Adare Pharma Solutions.

About Red Nucleus

Red Nucleus (rednucleus.com) is a global strategic partner with decades of experience across the entire life sciences product life cycle. The company excels in providing clients with unique insights and efficiencies to support their journey to improve health outcomes and ultimately the quality of people’s lives. Red Nucleus’ “Red Thread” weaves together a full suite of products and services from learning & development, scientific services & advisory, medical and scientific communications, and market access, which leads the company’s life sciences customers to accelerated transformational success. With offices worldwide in seven countries, our commitment to quality and on-time delivery is unrivaled in the industry.

About THL

THL Partners (www.THL.com) is a premier private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies exclusively within three sectors: Healthcare, Financial Technology & Services, and Technology & Business Solutions. THL couples deep sector expertise through an Identified Sector Opportunity ("ISO") process with dedicated internal operating resources from its Strategic Resource Group ("SRG") to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. The Firm's domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $35 billion of equity capital, invested in over 170 companies and completed more than 600 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $250 billion.