Ropes & Gray Advises GHO Capital on Acquisition of Envision Pharma Group

Ropes & Gray has advised GHO Capital Partners – the European specialist investor in healthcare – on its acquisition (alongside the existing Envision management team and employees) of a majority stake in Envision Pharma Group, a leading technology-enabled scientific communications company, from Ardian, the France-based, independent private equity investment company. 

Founded in 2001, Envision helps biopharmaceutical and medical device companies commercialize new compounds through medical strategy, strategic publications planning, and medical communications delivery. Its flagship technology iEnvision® – a global medical affairs platform, supports medical strategy, scientific communications internal/external research, and grant/request management activities to help pharmaceutical companies operate their businesses compliantly. 

The transaction sees GHO lead a consortium of its investors headed by Mubadala Investment Company, and including HarbourVest Partners and Northwestern Mutual, to drive a new phase of growth for the business and advance Envision’s global ambition to be the leading strategic partner in medical affairs.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by private capital transactions partner John Newton in London and Neill Jakobe in Chicago. Other members of the team included finance partner Alex Robb (London), tax partners Brenda Coleman (London) and Elaine Murphy (Boston), antitrust partner Ruchit Patel (London), employment, executive compensation & benefits partners Jennifer Cormier and Renata Ferrari (Boston), private capital transactions counsel Shona Ha and associates David Dowling and Nick Matthew, finance associate Hoey Lee, tax counsel Chris Agnoli (all based in London) and employment, executive compensation & benefits associate Madeline Cooper and tax associate Tom Spera (Boston).