Deal Details

Beacon Is Acquired by Corten

Technology & Services
Healthcare

Beacon, a subsidiary of Hanson Wade Group and a portfolio company of Graphite, acquisition by Corten

Summary

Beacon, a subsidiary of Hanson Wade Group and a portfolio company of Graphite Capital (“Graphite”), has been acquired by Corten Capital (“Corten”). Beacon has recently been carved out from Hanson Wade Group and established as a standalone entity. The sale is expected to complete by the end of June 2026 and will deliver a cash return of around 4x Graphite’s investment in Hanson Wade Group as a whole, with the firm retaining the Hanson Wade Group business for further value growth.

Baird served as exclusive financial advisor to Beacon and Graphite on this transaction.

About

Beacon is an essential decision-support tool for developers of complex therapeutics, used by senior scientists at the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies to inform high-value R&D investment decisions. Built on proprietary ontologies, Beacon provides customers with comprehensive and accurate visibility of drug development globally. The platform serves over 300 customers, including 24 of the world's 30 largest pharmaceutical companies. Beacon is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Hanson Wade Group is a leading insights and collaboration platform primarily serving the global life sciences R&D community through a portfolio of more than 200 research-led B2B conferences. Hanson Wade Group’s services focus on tightly defined verticals and provide an invaluable source of information to improve client decision-making, enabling cost-effective and results-orientated R&D. Hanson Wade Group is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Graphite is a private equity investor in mid-market companies in the United Kingdom. The firm focuses on management buy-outs and also invests in development capital opportunities, backing companies with enterprise values of £30 million to £175 million. Graphite’s most recent fund is Graphite Capital Partners IX, which raised £500 million. The sale of Beacon is the fourth successful exit for Graphite in the last 12 months. The firm sold Independence Products Limited, a manufacturer and distributor of infection prevention products, in January this year. This followed the exits of Empowering Learning Group, a provider of training and staffing services to schools, in July 2025 and of Wonderbly, the world-leading publisher of premium personalised books, a month earlier. Graphite is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.

Corten is a uniquely focused private equity firm that partners with talented management teams to build market leading B2B Software, Data & Services businesses across Europe and North America. Corten is backed by an exceptional group of university endowments, charitable foundations and family offices from North America, Europe and Asia, who share its philosophy of investing for long term value creation through technologyled growth and innovation. Since 2020, Corten has raised €1.2 billion across two funds and is currently investing from Corten Capital II, which was closed in March 2024 with €680 million in capital commitments. Corten Advisors UK LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom.

Technology & Services
Healthcare

Beacon, a subsidiary of Hanson Wade Group and a portfolio company of Graphite, acquisition by Corten