Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), a leading provider of high-quality, sterile parenteral solutions, has a new majority owner: Arlington Capital Partners, a private equity firm in the Washington, D.C., area.
Among other things, the new partnership will provide funding for GRAM to expand and add capacity to meet the rising demand for parenteral development and manufacturing services.
“With the health care network, strategic vision and capital that Arlington brings to GRAM, we look forward to expanding our offerings and capacity and continuing to invest in best-in-class technology,” said Tom Ross, CEO of GRAM. “Arlington has a strong track record of investing in pharmaceutical services and shares our vision for expanding GRAM’s capacity and capabilities with a focus on putting quality first.”
Matt Altman, a managing partner at Arlington, shared Arlington’s excitement to partner with GRAM. “The company’s broad manufacturing experience and exemplary quality record provide an ideal platform from which to pursue the numerous growth initiatives we have collectively identified within the large and growing aseptic manufacturing market,” Altman said. “Our investment in GRAM continues Arlington’s history of building differentiated pharma services providers in partnership with leading management teams.”
This partnership will enable GRAM to meet the growing development and commercial demand in many sectors of the injectables market, including biologics and generics. “With Arlington’s support, we are excited to further invest in GRAM and provide a larger service platform to better serve our growing client base,” said Nick Bykerk, GRAM’s director of business development and finance.
“GRAM has added a significant number of new clinical and commercial customers over the past two years, and we are proud to offer solutions to clients throughout the life cycle of the product — from concept to commercialization,” Bykerk added. “GRAM is a one-stop shop solution for pharmaceutical and biotech customers, and the anticipated capacity will further opportunities for growth.”
“We are very excited about our expansion plans to substantially increase capacity with a high-speed integrated fill line, utilizing best-in-class isolator technology,” said Ross. “The partnership with Arlington provides the necessary capital to consistently invest ahead of the increasing demand for pharmaceutical services.”
GRAM’s continued focus on quality and customer service has resulted in significant year over year growth. The company was recently named one of the country’s fastest growing private companies, according to INC. 5000, and is Michigan’s ninth fastest growing private company.
“The additional capital and industry knowledge that Arlington provides will aid in sustaining the historical growth rates, which is good for our customers, our employees and the West Michigan community,” Ross said. “Since we opened our doors in January 2011, the employee count has grown from 16 to over 160 today.”
Fairmount Partners acted and advised as the investment bank for GRAM throughout the process, culminating in the selection of Arlington Capital Partners
