London-based Global Healthcare Opportunities and Singapore-based CBC Group announced plans to merge, creating what they called the largest healthcare-focused investment manager, with over $21 billion in assets.
The deal brings together two specialist healthcare investors with more than 200 investment and operating professionals across 13 offices in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. These regions collectively account for around 90% of global healthcare R&D spend, the firms said.
The investment firms said in a press release that their combined expansive footprint, network and global connectivity will enable it to capitalize on "high-growth, innovation-led opportunities across the world's largest healthcare markets."
The new combined firm plans to back innovation-led healthcare businesses spanning pharmaceuticals, medical devices, life science tools, diagnostics, healthcare infrastructure and healthcare IT.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. GHO and CBC will continue to operate independently until the deal is completed.
GHO’s portfolio of North American and European healthcare companies will benefit from enhanced access to local insight and operating capability across Asia-Pacific, key growth frontier for many of the firm’s portfolio businesses, the firms said. In parallel, CBC’s portfolio will be enhanced by the global market insight and execution support from an enlarged firm.
Two of the co-founders of GHO and CBC, Mike Mortimer and Fu Wei, will serve as co-chief executives of the combined firm, and senior leadership teams across both firms will remain actively involved in day-to-day management of the new firm. Lady Mireille Gillings, Ph.D., vice chair and co-founder of GHO, and Wei will co-chair the board.
“The combination is about connecting leading healthcare companies and innovations with the world’s largest and most established markets and global pools of capital—by bringing together complementary strengths across Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe,” Wei, currently CEO of CBC Group, said in a statement. “Together, we are building the world’s largest dedicated healthcare investment firm to help accelerate patient access to affordable care, support innovation, and improve efficiency in addressing unmet medical needs by backing our portfolio companies and their management teams as they grow and scale impact.”
"Our vision has always been to back high-growth, innovation-led healthcare opportunities to deliver better, faster and more accessible healthcare. In particular, AI is a fast-evolving force in healthcare and life sciences, and so AI applications in these fields will continue to be a focus moving forward,” Gillings said. “With the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 40% of global healthcare R&D spend, establishing a strong local presence is a natural and highly complementary extension of our strategy.”
The merger will expand the investors' global reach and enable portfolio companies to "compete and win in an increasingly dynamic global healthcare market," Mortimer said.
In October, GHO closed its $2.9 billion Fund IV, growing its total assets under management to $10.5 billion. New investments in 2025 include Avid Bioservices, a contract development and manufacturing organization, Scientist.com, an AI-powered R&D orchestration platform serving pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and FotoFinder Systems, a manufacturer of cutting-edge skin diagnostics and imaging solutions.
CBC Group has $10.8 billion in assets under management, and recent investments include financings for Singapore-based miRNA cancer diagnosis startup Mirxes and Motiva, which produces breast reconstruction technologies. Last fall, it acquired UCB's mature neurology and allergy business in China.
Existing funds and portfolio companies at each firm will continue to be managed by their respective investment teams, with no changes to investment mandates, governance or ownership, the firms said.