Trends from the Transactions Universe There have been at least eight M&A transactions involving pure play Contract Research Organization firms between January 2014 and May 2015 - versus just five deals in the entire three year period prior to 2014. Of these transactions, four have been domestic deals and three Inbound. The only Outbound transaction was GVK Biosciences' acquisition of US-based Aragen Bioscience which specializes in high-value biologics services. The Sequoia Capital India-backed GVK Bio was also a buyer domestically - acquiring Chennai-based Vanta Bioscience which offers toxicology evaluation services for the pharmaceutical, biotech, food supplements and feed additives industries. (GVK also excercised its call option to buy out Dai-Ichi Karkaria's entire stake in their joint venture Inogent which offers a mix of services - Process R&D and Custom Chemical Synthesis & Manufacturing - and Products - APIs and Intermediates.) While GVK has been a b...