Lancaster Laboratories, Inc.

Lancaster Laboratories, Inc. (“Lancaster”) is a leading provider of lab testing services. Lancaster performs analytical chemical and microbiological testing in support of pharmaceutical product development and manufacturing. Lancaster also performs chemical analytical testing in connection with environmental monitoring and remediation activities.

Prior to its acquisition by Goldner Hawn, Lancaster was a subsidiary of Thermo TerraTech, itself majority-owned holding of Thermo Electron. Due to a lack of strategic fit, Lancaster’s former parent retained an investment banking firm to conduct a limited sale process for the company. Goldner Hawn identified Lancaster as an attractive acquisition candidate, based primarily upon the strength of its experienced management team, the company’s outstanding reputation for the highest-quality testing capabilities, and the company’s growth prospects in the pharmaceutical sector.

Goldner Hawn was able to offer a competitive price for Lancaster and to quickly close the transaction on the agreed-upon terms. Goldner Hawn’s success in acquiring Lancaster was primarily attributable to the following:

  • Goldner Hawn’s development with incumbent management of an attractive thesis. By developing a good working relationship with the Lancaster management team during the sale process, Goldner Hawn was able to formulate an investment thesis that permitted the offering of a highly competitive price for the business. Based upon management’s success in penetrating the higher margin pharmaceutical market segment, as well as insight into pharmaceutical industry outsourcing trends garnered from industry experts commissioned by Goldner Hawn to provide due diligence assistance, Goldner Hawn was able to formulate a plan to effectively shift the overall positioning of the business away from the environmental segment and towards the pharmaceutical segment. Believing that this shift would be rewarded in a higher valuation multiple for the company in a future sale, Goldner Hawn was able to comfortably offer the seller an attractive price for Lancaster.
  • Goldner Hawn’s access to senior financing in a contracting credit market. During 2000, the availability of senior debt financing for leveraged transactions was steadily diminishing, as banks came under regulatory pressure to reduce their credit exposures. Through a long-term relationship with one of its primary financing partners, Goldner Hawn was able to secure an attractive financing package at a time in the credit cycle when many sponsor groups were unable to obtain similar levels of financing.
  • Goldner Hawn’s willingness to move quickly to closing. Goldner Hawn was able to commit to a short time frame to closing with the seller and its advisors. By working with its long-term professional advisors and quickly securing the required industry-specific diligence resources, Goldner Hawn was able to deliver on this promise.

Following the acquisition, Lancaster performed extremely well financially. Goldner Hawn provided strategic assistance to the Lancaster management team to permit the company to grow its pharmaceutical business, and recruited a senior pharmaceutical industry executive to serve as an independent director for the company. Goldner Hawn also provided financial management expertise to the company, including assistance with working capital management following the separation from its corporate parent, and executing a recapitalization of the company that included a special dividend to shareholders.

The company’s impressive financial performance and strategic re-positioning as an outsourced pharmaceutical services provider were rewarded in 2005 when the company was sold to a strategic buyer. The company was sold for a significantly higher multiple of cash flow than the multiple paid by Goldner Hawn in the 2000 acquisition. Goldner Hawn realized a return of just under four times its investment in Lancaster, and an internal rate of return of approximately 32% over the five year investment period.

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