Alantra advises Strategic North on its sale to Prescient Healthcare Group

Mar 2022

Sell-side advisory

London – Alantra, the global investment banking firm, has advised the shareholders of Strategic North on the company’s sale to Prescient Healthcare Group, a biopharma product and portfolio strategy firm. Strategic North is a global research and commercial strategy consultancy that partners with a wide range of pharmaceutical companies to help them better understand how their customers make decisions in order to unlock the full potential of their brands.

Strategic North was founded in 2010 and today employs 70 executives out of its offices in the UK. The firm specializes in supporting Global Marketing, New Product Planning and Insight functions in the development of brand value propositions, positioning and messaging, and the rollout of global strategy to affiliates. Once a brand is in market, Strategic North works closely with Global and Regional Marketing teams to ensure that the value proposition continues to resonate and maintain differentiation. The firm continues providing support through clients’ annual brand planning processes, ensuring their decisions are evidence-based, value-adding and future-proofed. Central to Strategic North’s exceptional brand strategy expertise is its ability to develop deep insight into the behaviors and needs of key stakeholders, including prescribers, payers, patients, providers and advocacy groups.

Alantra’s Healthcare team was appointed due to its significant experience working with owner-managed businesses, finding strategic partners and securing investment solutions. The team’s role encompassed advising the shareholders on the options available to support the next stage of Strategic North’s growth, identifying potential partners, designing the deal structure and pricing, and managing an efficient process through to completion.

This transaction further underlines Alantra’s expertise in medical communications and consulting, having recently advised Prescient and Helios on investment from Bridgepoint Development Capital and NorthEdge, respectively, 90TEN on its sale to Envision Pharma, and Bridgepoint on its acquisition of Fishawack Health.

Anthony Harrington, Partner at Alantra, led the deal, supported by Yeboah Mensah-Dika, Vice President, and Tunde Akinboyewa, Associate.

Anthony Harrington, Partner at Alantra, commented, “The Strategic North team has built an impressive business and we are proud to have supported the company throughout this process. We know Prescient well, having advised the business twice, most recently on its investment from Bridgepoint Development Capital. We’re excited to watch Strategic North continue to grow and drive innovation in its services in partnership with Prescient.”

He continued, “This is Alantra’s sixteenth deal in the pharma services sector over the last two years and we have completed more transactions within the medical communications and consulting sub-sector than any other firm in the market. We fully expect to advise on further transactions in this sector over the course of 2022.”

Steve Padgett, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Strategic North, said, “We are hugely excited to be joining the Prescient team. Our vision has always been about providing our clients with seamlessly integrated, best-in-class specialist skills and this partnership enables us to do this in an even bigger and better way. Our core objectives for 2022 will be to effectively integrate our respective teams and cultures, expand the Strategic North capability in the US and further differentiate our core service lines by leveraging our combined capabilities.”

Jamie Denison-Pender, Prescient CEO, said, “Prescient and Strategic North complement each other beautifully. Strategic North’s strengths in commercial strategy, brand strategy and stakeholder insights will add depth to Prescient’s existing client partnerships and help enhance the value we deliver to Medical, Real-World Evidence, Commercialization and Insights teams. This integration supports cross-functional teams across the life cycle by helping unlock the full potential of assets from molecule through to brand and ensuring that the voices of the payer, prescriber and patient are central to business decision making.