Home / Publications / CMS Next / ST Pharm establishes new medical testing and analysis...
  1. Protection and loyalty: securing valuable trade secrets
  2. Meet our expert: Maria Figueiredo, Partner, Portugal
  3. Meet our expert: Dalia Majumder-Russell, Partner, UK
  4. Digitalisation and innovation
  5. Contributing to climate-neutral transportation
  6. Investing in intelligent automation
  7. Advising on innovative digital project
  8. Supporting climate-resilient businesses
  9. Heike Wagner on women in law
  10. Supercharged ESG: Getting control of the post-COVID agenda
  11. Meet our expert: Adriana Escobar, Partner, Colombia
  12. Meet our expert: Babita Ambekar, Partner, Singapore
  13. Meet our expert: Bridgett Majola, Partner, South Africa
  14. Meet our expert: Lillian Lofty, Partner, Kenya
  15. Meet our expert: Marite Aragaki, Partner, Peru
  16. Meet our other experts
  17. After the pandemic
  18. Digital transformation & sustainability to help overcome COVID crisis
  19. Data and risk: challenges in an uncertain world
  20. Smart living: creating a framework for disruption and innovation
  21. Technology: a unifying force
  22. The green economy: identifying primary risks and key opportunities
  23. The true cost of ESG
  24. Developing markets
  25. Helping our clients grow
  26. Investing in new technologies
  27. Shaping the Energy Transition
  28. Supporting electromobility
  29. Transforming the short-term insurance industry in the East African market
  30. Advising on a EUR 1.1bn Bulgarian gas pipeline procurement
  31. ALPLA expands its global plastic recycling capabilities
  32. CMS advises on first ever European real estate transaction using blockchain
  33. CMS advises on ‘Train Maya’ rail project
  34. CMS helps the BBC launch the streaming service BritBox in the UK
  35. Commerz Real lands the largest deal in its history
  36. Helping Teyliom Hospitality’s expansion in Central and West Africa
  37. Online gambling grows as Gamesys is sold to JPJ Group
  38. Selling the Merkur offshore wind farm
  39. ST Pharm establishes new medical testing and analysis business line
  40. CMS expands in Norway
  41. One woman’s journey to advocating for fair global health
  42. Raising funds for a good cause
  43. CMS Academy adds participants through digital learning
  44. Lupl delivers transformative open industry platform for legal matters

ST Pharm establishes new medical testing and analysis business line

Toby Grainger
CMS was able to seamlessly coordinate a cohesive and extremely responsive team working across different countries and time zones to ensure the transaction flowed and completed in an efficient manner.
Toby Grainger

ST Pharm Co. Ltd, a major Korean pharmaceuticals manufacturer, acquired a 70% stake in Swiss contract laboratory services and histopathology company AnaPath Services in November 2019. At the same time, AnaPath purchased a 100% share in Envigo CRS, a Spanish contract research organisation. The businesses will integrate under the AnaPath Research brand.

The synergies and strategic value of the acquisitions are extremely significant. The world-class research business capabilities of the Spanish operations, paired with the advanced laboratory and testing competences from AnaPath Services, enable ST Pharm to rapidly accelerate its new drug development and contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) ambitions. This is something that would have taken considerably longer through a domestic and organic approach.

Led by Singapore-based partner Toby Grainger, CMS teams in Singapore, Spain and Switzerland advised the acquirers on both transactions.

The deals posed a number of legal challenges. The CMS team in Spain, for example, had to navigate the local entity out of a statutory winding down process, directly negotiate with unionised employee representatives and coordinate an effective resolution to debt and capitalisation deficiencies. CMS was able to swiftly mobilise its employment expertise to ensure participation in meetings and negotiations was smooth and seamless. Beyond local issues, there was the negotiation of a technical services agreement, handled by the Singapore team. The negotiation was made more complex as the vendor counterparty had itself been recently sold to another US group and was hence reliant on its new parent delivering on the transitional services to a large extent (in particular, ensuring support for the completion of ongoing clinical trials).

According to Toby Grainger, “CMS was able to seamlessly coordinate a cohesive and extremely responsive team working across different countries and time zones to ensure the transaction flowed and completed in an efficient manner. The team’s familiarity with the relevant issues, turnaround on documentation and working ‘as one’, meant that expertise could be mobilised swiftly and effective resolutions presented to the client in a time-sensitive backdrop.”

Key contact

Toby Grainger
Managing Partner
Head of Corporate and Indonesian Desk, Singapore
Singapore
T +65 9837 8559