BV Investment Partners Announces Sale Of The Western Institutional Review Board
BOSTON, March 1, 2012 – BV Investment Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm investing in the information and business services and communications sectors, today announced the sale of its portfolio company, The Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB), a provider of information-based services which play an integral role in the clinical trial process for new drugs and medical devices, to Arsenal Capital Partners.
With a broad customer base consisting primarily of large pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies, government, and other institutional entities, WIRB’s information management solutions and compliance services ensure the safety of trial participants, while aiding the efficiency of the medical studies themselves. WIRB is the largest independent institutional review board (“IRB”) in the U.S. and is acknowledged as the gold standard. IRBs are information service companies that provide the initial assessments and ongoing oversight of clinical trials administered on behalf of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies.
BV Investment Partners acquired WIRB in January 2007, in partnership with the Company’s founder, and has since instituted a number of key growth initiatives that have increased the Company’s EBITDA significantly over this period. Vikrant Raina, a Managing Director at BV Investment Partners, said, “We are very pleased with the outcome of this investment, in partnership with Dr. Bowen, who pioneered the field of independent IRBs. The Company’s business model is stronger today as the result of a set of initiatives successfully implemented throughout the course of our investment. WIRB is a great business and institution and we are pleased that the Company will continue to prosper with an experienced partner like Arsenal Capital.”
The sale of WIRB is the second realization from BV’s latest fund, both of which were completed in 2012.
Marco J. Ferrari, a Principal at BV, said, “This transaction represents the culmination of our successful investment across a number of areas of the Company, including developing new products, enhancing the Company’s marketing and business development, and deploying new IT solutions These initiatives have strengthened WIRB’s position as the premier independent institutional review board.”
