- Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has signed definitive agreements to divest its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses and certain European Discovery Services assets in separate transactions.
- The divestitures involve assets generating more than $287 million in 2025 annual revenue and are expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has announced definitive agreements to divest certain European Discovery Services assets and its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses as part of the actions outlined in a strategic review conducted last year. The transactions are expected to close during the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
The company has agreed to divest its CDMO and Cell Solutions businesses to GI Partners, primarily for future, contingent performance-based payments. The CDMO business provides contract manufacturing services related to advanced therapies, including gene-modified cell therapies and gene therapies such as viral vectors and plasmid DNA. The Cell Solutions business supplies human-derived cellular materials for cell therapy development and production. The businesses generated combined annual revenue of $143 million in 2025 and include sites in Tennessee, Maryland, the United Kingdom and California.
Separately, Charles River has agreed to divest certain European Discovery Services assets to IQVIA Holdings Inc. for approximately $145 million in cash, subject to closing adjustments, with potential additional payments of up to $10 million. The assets generated $144 million in 2025 annual revenue and include five European sites in the UK, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, providing in vitro drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, structural biology and pharmacology services. The company will retain other drug discovery capabilities representing approximately 40% of its Discovery Services revenue in 2025.
“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.”
James C. Foster, Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer
Charles River has updated its 2026 financial guidance to reflect the planned divestitures, which are expected to reduce reported revenue by slightly more than $200 million in 2026 while generating at least 100 basis points of incremental non-GAAP operating margin improvement and adding approximately $0.10 to non-GAAP earnings per share for the partial year.
