Charles River Laboratories Signs Deals to Sell CDMO and Discovery Assets
In efforts to streamline its portfolio and prioritize core capabilities, the company has agreed two separate transactions to divest its CDMO and Cell Solutions as well as select European Discovery Services sites.
Global strategic partner, Charles River Laboratories is divesting its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses and select European discovery services sites in two separate transactions. The move, which will reshape the company’s research tools and services portfolio, follows a strategic review, completed last year, that was aimed at narrowing the company’s focus to areas with the strongest fit and growth synergies across the business (1).
The first transaction will see Charles River sell its CDMO and Cell Solutions operations to private equity firm GI Partners with future payments structured on a performance basis. The deal incorporates the company’s CDMO facilities in Tennessee, Maryland, and the United Kingdom, as well as its Cell Solutions site in California, which generated a combined USD 143 million in revenue in 2025 across the manufacturing solutions and research models and services segments. The CDMO unit provides manufacturing services for advanced therapies, such as gene‑modified cell therapies and gene therapies, while Cell Solutions supplies human‑derived cellular materials used in the development and production of cell therapies.
In a separate agreement, Charles River will divest certain European assets from its Discovery Services business to IQVIA for approximately USD 145 million in cash, with potential additional payments of up to USD 10 million. This deal comprises five sites across various European locations: Cambridge and Portishead in the UK; Freiburg in Germany; Kuopio in Finland; and Leiden in the Netherlands. All of the sites offer in vitro drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, structural biology, and pharmacology services spanning oncology, neuroscience, immunology, and advanced cell biology. These assets contributed approximately USD 144 million of discovery and safety assessment revenue in 2025. Charles River revealed that it will retain other discovery capabilities that account for roughly 40% of its remaining discovery services revenue.
“We are pleased to announce these planned divestitures today to demonstrate our continued progress on the actions outlined as part of the comprehensive strategic review conducted last year,” said James C. Foster, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer of Charles River Laboratories, in the company press release (1). “We have decided to divest these assets after carefully evaluating our core capabilities and determining those that will drive the most synergistic growth with our broader portfolio going forward. We believe these actions will refine and further strengthen our portfolio, and will also enhance shareholder value by executing on our plans to drive long-term growth, greater efficiency, and operational excellence.”
Both transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory and closing conditions. Charles River has also updated its 2026 guidance to reflect the planned sales, indicating that while the divested units will collectively reduce next year’s reported revenue by slightly more than USD 200 million and slow organic growth, the deals are expected to lift operating margins and provide a modest boost to earnings per share.
Reference
Charles River Laboratories. Charles River Laboratories Provides Update on Planned Divestitures. News release, Feb. 25, 2026.