A clinical trial company that has quietly run studies out of Tampa and Clearwater since 1995 now has a new majority owner. Fengate Private Equity announced Oct. 13 that it has acquired a majority stake in Clinical Research of West Florida, giving the Canadian investment firm control of a company that has supported more than 1,000 trials over three decades.
A Three-Decade Local Operation Changes Hands
According to the announcement reported by globenewswire.com, Clinical Research of West Florida was founded in 1995 by Lynne Merriam and has been led since 2002 by President Aydin Keskiner, who has now guided the company for nearly a quarter-century. The firm operates three research facilities across Tampa and Clearwater, including a dedicated Phase I unit for early human testing of experimental treatments. Its clinical team is led by six board-certified principal investigators, who have conducted studies for nearly 300 pharmaceutical sponsors and contract research organizations across specialties including autoimmune diseases, pulmonology and endocrinology.
The company describes its research as spanning all four phases of clinical development, per the same release, while drawing on a database of more than 35,000 patients. Notably, the company's own website lists its work as covering Phase I through Phase V, a discrepancy between how the acquisition announcement and crwf.com each describe the scope of its trial phases. The site separately states the company has screened more than 12,000 patients, though it is unclear whether that figure describes the same population counted in the 35,000-patient database or a different measure.
What Fengate Brings to the Table
Fengate manages more than $19 billion in assets across private equity, infrastructure and real estate, and this deal marks its second platform investment in the pharmaceutical services sector, the globenewswire.com release states. The firm is overseeing the transaction on behalf of the LIUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada. For Fengate, the acquisition extends its pharmaceutical services business from commercialization into clinical development, according to the announcement.
“We're thrilled to partner with Aydin and the CRWF team to build a leading regional network while preserving the qualities that have made the company successful,” said Maxim Tcherner, Managing Director at Fengate Private Equity, per the release. Tcherner added that Fengate intends to build a regional network around Clinical Research of West Florida while retaining its investigators, patient relationships and clinical practices.
Growth Plans Without a Set Timetable
Fengate plans to open additional research facilities, hire clinical staff and partner with independent operators in markets beyond southwest Florida, the announcement indicates. The investment is meant to support expanded trial capacity and additional medical specialties, with the company's trial capacity set to grow through continued investment in talent, site infrastructure and therapeutic depth. Neither Fengate nor Clinical Research of West Florida identified specific first expansion markets, announced potential acquisition targets, or set a timetable for the growth plans, according to the same source.
Keskiner said Fengate will provide capital, industry expertise and sponsor relationships to support expansion beyond southwestern Florida, and that the company will open new sites in high-demand markets while partnering with independent site owners. He also said the patient experience at the company will not change, the release states. Westcove Partners served as financial advisor to Clinical Research of West Florida on the deal, though financial terms of the transaction and the exact ownership percentage Fengate acquired were not disclosed.
Part of a Broader Private Equity Push Into Clinical Trials
The deal lands amid growing private equity interest in clinical trial site management, a sector axios.com describes as hungry for reliable comparables. Among the largest recent deals in the space, Blackstone sold Precision Medicine Group, a clinical research organization, to McKesson for $2.25 billion — though that sale reportedly closed on earnings closer to $100 million, well below the roughly $200 million initially marketed, according to the same report.
As first detailed by Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, the acquisition signals that Tampa Bay's clinical research footprint could grow further as outside capital flows into the region's trial sites. For now, Clinical Research of West Florida's three Tampa and Clearwater facilities remain open under Keskiner's leadership, with Fengate's broader expansion plans still taking shape.
