Cognate Secures Capital Raise

Cognate BioServices has completed a management buyout (“MBO”) and raised capital from a group of global investment firms including Santa Monica, Calif.-based Tennenbaum Capital Partners (“TCP”), Medivate Partners, and affiliates based in Seoul, South Korea.

“As an early investor in Cognate, we are very excited to expand our partnership with the company,” said Dan Worrell, managing director of TCP. “For the past two decades, TCP’s healthcare strategy has focused on investing in companies that improve healthcare by lowering costs or facilitating improved patient access and outcomes. Cognate provides critical cost-effective support to small, medium, and large biotech companies on the forefront of personalized medicine.”

Cognate recently opened up new manufacturing capacity to support products for both the E.U. and the U.S. in Memphis, Tennessee, and is well on its way to being able to support commercial scale production. The transaction includes significant growth capital to accelerate Cognate’s second phase of commercial expansion that began in 2015.

“This transaction is the culmination of years of planning and execution on the part of our highly collaborative and dedicated team with committed investors who came together to make this a reality,” according to J. Kelly Ganjei, chief executive officer of Cognate BioServices, Inc. “We are excited to have completed the second phase of our growth strategy and look forward to further demonstrating our compelling and unique value proposition to the cell therapy market.”

The MBO and capital raise will accelerate Cognate’s commercial activities for clients and prospects, secure the company’s future as a leading CDMO in the emerging cellular therapies space and provide a clear path to commercialization.