Background
Founded in 1995, Softbox had grown to become a leading provider of passive temperature controlled packaging (“TCP”) solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and third-party logistics industries when in 2012 Great Point Partners first reached out to the CEO about growth capital. The Company differentiated itself through the high quality and broad range of its TCP product line and was driven by deep domain knowledge and a commitment to innovation for its customers. Its proprietary designs provided a higher level of insulation and temperature integrity than the solutions of its competitors. Servicing most of the largest names in the pharmaceutical industry with manufacturing operations in four continents and distribution capabilities across six continents, Softbox was the fastest growing provider of passive pharmaceutical packaging in the world.
Challenges
Softbox had experienced tremendous growth in its market with exceptional customer retention due to its competitively priced yet more innovative shipping solutions. However, its majority shareholder sought to diversify his net worth while also retaining a portion of his ownership on a go forward basis to participate in future value creation as the Company continued its torrid growth rate. Softbox management knew that it could benefit from a U.S. private equity partner to help it reach its full potential in the North American market it had targeted for its next leg of growth. It also saw synergy with Great Point Partners’ public BioMedical Value Fund which had completed over a hundred direct investments in biopharmaceutical companies over the prior twelve years.
How Great Point Partners Helped
After exploring the cold chain distribution space for two years, Great Point Partners led a growth recapitalization of Softbox in 2014, bringing with it a strong pipeline of complementary acquisition targets that could enhance the Company’s product and service offerings. Additionally, GPP’s public BioMedical Value Fund investment team brought long-standing relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that could accelerate Softbox’s sales. Great Point was particularly well positioned to assist in Softbox’s geographic expansion into the U.S. market, where Softbox’s sales were relatively modest despite the fact that the region constituted 50% of total global cold chain services sales.
Results
Softbox is currently working with the Great Point team to leverage their contacts to develop a plan for continued expansion into the U.S. market, as well as additional geographies throughout the world. In 2017, Great Point Partners identified, arranged the debt financing and structured the strategic acquisitions of Tempack, a Barcelona based competitor, and TP3, an English company with a line of thermal blankets, significantly increasing the businesses scale and global footprint.
Background
Founded in 1995, Softbox had grown to become a leading provider of passive temperature controlled packaging (“TCP”) solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and third-party logistics industries when in 2012 Great Point Partners first reached out to the CEO about growth capital. The Company differentiated itself through the high quality and broad range of its TCP product line and was driven by deep domain knowledge and a commitment to innovation for its customers. Its proprietary designs provided a higher level of insulation and temperature integrity than the solutions of its competitors. Servicing most of the largest names in the pharmaceutical industry with manufacturing operations in four continents and distribution capabilities across six continents, Softbox was the fastest growing provider of passive pharmaceutical packaging in the world.
Challenges
Softbox had experienced tremendous growth in its market with exceptional customer retention due to its competitively priced yet more innovative shipping solutions. However, its majority shareholder sought to diversify his net worth while also retaining a portion of his ownership on a go forward basis to participate in future value creation as the Company continued its torrid growth rate. Softbox management knew that it could benefit from a U.S. private equity partner to help it reach its full potential in the North American market it had targeted for its next leg of growth. It also saw synergy with Great Point Partners’ public BioMedical Value Fund which had completed over a hundred direct investments in biopharmaceutical companies over the prior twelve years.
How Great Point Partners Helped
After exploring the cold chain distribution space for two years, Great Point Partners led a growth recapitalization of Softbox in 2014, bringing with it a strong pipeline of complementary acquisition targets that could enhance the Company’s product and service offerings. Additionally, GPP’s public BioMedical Value Fund investment team brought long-standing relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that could accelerate Softbox’s sales. Great Point was particularly well positioned to assist in Softbox’s geographic expansion into the U.S. market, where Softbox’s sales were relatively modest despite the fact that the region constituted 50% of total global cold chain services sales.
Results
Softbox is currently working with the Great Point team to leverage their contacts to develop a plan for continued expansion into the U.S. market, as well as additional geographies throughout the world. In 2017, Great Point Partners identified, arranged the debt financing and structured the strategic acquisitions of Tempack, a Barcelona based competitor, and TP3, an English company with a line of thermal blankets, significantly increasing the businesses scale and global footprint.