Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP), a private equity firm based in St. Louis, in conjunction with its portfolio company, LifeSpan Biosciences, Inc., (LSBio) has partnered with management to acquire Absolute Antibody, Ltd., based in Redcar, UK. The Company is a manufacturer and developer of recombinant antibodies primarily for the research and diagnostic markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The founder-led Absolute Antibody (www.absoluteantibody.com) was launched in 2012, with the mission to make engineered recombinant antibodies available to all. The Company specializes in recombinant antibody technology, offering antibody sequencing, engineering and recombinant production as custom services, as well as a unique catalog of recombinant antibodies and Fc Fusion proteins, engineered into new and useful formats. Together with its sister company, Boston-based Kerafast Inc., Absolute Antibody facilitates access to unique laboratory-made reagents to further the availability of recombinant antibodies. The new acquisition combines a strong recombinant antibody portfolio with LSBio’s expertise in application-specific validation to make sequence-defined, reproducible antibodies more widely available for IHC and other key research applications. Some of the largest academic research institutions and diagnostic providers trust Absolute Antibody to provide recombinant antibodies and antibody engineering services for their most important and time-sensitive projects. As part of its growth strategy, Absolute Antibody intends to continue expanding its leading catalog of recombinant antibodies through internal R&D capabilities and expanding its service offering in partnership with customers.
“We thrilled to add Absolute Antibody and Kerafast into the LSBio family of companies,” said Dr. Heather Holemon, CEO of LSBio. “It provides an opportunity to offer more to our customers by adding their recombinant antibody production and engineering capabilities as well as their highly complementary product portfolio. This acquisition aligns with our goal of providing researchers access to what they are asking for as far as superior consistency and better validation.”
Said Bob Dunn, Managing Partner, TSCP, “We’re excited to be partnering with the founders and management team of Absolute Antibody. The Company highly complements our existing efforts in life science reagents through our platform LSBio.” J.C. Wetzel, Director, TSCP, added, “We welcome Absolute Antibody and Kerafast into the LSBio family of companies to accelerate the ongoing growth of LifeSpan Biosciences.”
