Dassault Systèmes in talks to buy drug trial software company for about $2bn
Potential purchase of ArisGlobal from Swedish buyout group would boost French conglomerate’s push into life sciences
French conglomerate Dassault Systèmes is in talks to buy drug trial software maker ArisGlobal from Nordic Capital for about $2bn, in what would represent the latest successful exit for the Swedish private equity group.
The potential deal would extend Dassault’s push into software used in life sciences and would rank as its second-biggest acquisition behind its $5.8bn takeover of clinical trial software group Medidata Solutions in 2019.
Talks between the parties are ongoing over a deal valuing Aris at roughly $2bn, but a transaction is not a foregone conclusion and talks could fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. Dassault and Nordic declined to comment. Aris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dassault is listed on Euronext Paris but remains controlled by the Dassault industrialist family, whose assent would be critical to the company pressing ahead with the deal, said the people.
Dassault Systèmes, which was spun out of aerospace company Dassault Aviation in 1981, has a market capitalisation of about €24.5bn. Its shares have fallen more than 20 per cent this year.
Swedish buyout group Nordic, which has €39bn of assets under management, has been trying to engineer an exit from Aris in recent months. Last year, Nordic was part of a consortium that sold clinical trial software maker Clario to Thermo Fisher for $9.4bn.
Nordic acquired a majority stake in the US-based ArisGlobal in 2019, boosting its ownership by buying an additional stake from the company’s founding family in 2021. ArisGlobal generates about $200mn in annual revenues, with roughly half of its sales coming from AI-related services.
ArisGlobal has nearly 1,300 employees and sells software to life sciences companies that assists with areas such as drug safety, clinical development and regulatory compliance.
Nordic has further expanded ArisGlobal’s range of services via a pair of acquisitions in 2023.
Nordic is raising another buyout fund, targeting roughly €10bn. As of September last year, it had raised an initial €5bn.
Private equity groups are under pressure from their backers to sell assets in order to distribute cash. Software companies have faced increasing challenges in generating interest for sales, although groups that offer industry-specific services have fared better.