Sygnature Discovery, the leading provider of integrated drug discovery services, has received a significant investment from Five Arrows Principal Investments, the European corporate private equity arm of Rothschild & Co. Financial details have not been disclosed.

Sygnature is a world-class provider of outsourced drug discovery services to leading pharma and biotech companies. The business operates from two state-of-the-art science facilities in the UK, at BioCity in Nottingham and Alderley Park in Cheshire. The company has a presence in both the Boston area and South San Francisco in the US. Sygnature provides integrated drug discovery and preclinical services to clients across eight key therapeutic areas, including oncology, neuroscience and inflammation & immunology.

Sygnature’s CEO Simon Hirst said: "We are delighted to have Five Arrows as our chosen investor. Five Arrows has a strong track record in supporting healthcare companies to grow through organic means as well as through acquisition. They have, through Rothschild & Co, a unique and unrivalled platform for supporting their investee companies."

Sygnature’s existing private equity investor, Phoenix Equity Partners, is exiting as a shareholder, having supported the company since September 2017. Since Phoenix invested, Sygnature’s annual revenue has more than doubled and the number of employees has increased from 200 to 450. This impressive growth has been driven both organically and via strategic acquisitions.

The Corporate Finance Advisory team at Deloitte in the Midlands acted as exclusive lead financial advisors to the vendors, with Deloitte also providing tax advice. Legal advice to the vendors was provided by Eversheds Sutherland in Nottingham. Alantra acted as exclusive financial adviser to Five Arrows and Shoosmiths acted as legal advisor.