Beyond Borders: A Disciplined Approach to Global Expansion

By Eric Lev, General Partner, Ampersand

Global expansion can be a powerful growth engine—but only when pursued with discipline, a clear strategy, and operational readiness. Value creation from a cross-border acquisition unfolds over years, not months. We believe the most successful companies start by defining a compelling rationale for expansion, choosing the right moment to act, and moving decisively to secure high-fit targets. They also put in place the management, financial, and operational systems that support integration efforts and help position companies for long-term operational effectiveness. It’s not just about buying the right asset—it’s about aligning people, processes, and culture to deliver results across geographies. At Ampersand Capital Partners (“Ampersand”), we combine investment with hands-on strategic support, helping companies assess readiness, navigate complex international markets, and build the infrastructure that aims to support global growth.

Timing Global Expansion: Readiness Over Urgency

One of the biggest challenges in global expansion is knowing when to make the move. Managing a business a few thousand miles away, especially across cultures, time zones, and regulatory systems, is inherently more complex than operating within a single geography. Some smaller companies jump too early or pursue international growth too aggressively, often to their detriment. In our view, the reality is that successful expansion requires more than ambition; it demands careful timing, the right infrastructure, and operational maturity.

A critical factor is the strength and readiness of the senior management team to navigate cross-border deals, manage foreign subsidiaries, handle multi-currency transactions, and understand how to move capital efficiently across jurisdictions. Equally important is having a clear plan for how that growth will be achieved. Will the company build new capabilities from scratch, or will it acquire them? While buying is often faster than building, executing cross-border M&A brings its own challenges and there may not be appropriate, actionable targets. Once the deal is done, it is critical to move quickly to align teams, upgrade systems, and install the processes that will support a larger, more complex enterprise. Only then can the organization turn its attention fully to idea execution and growth.

Ampersand plays a key role in preparing companies to execute M&A. Beyond capital, we help portfolio companies assess their readiness, identify critical gaps, and build the systems designed to support long-term growth. We also provide guidance to help companies make informed decisions.

Establishing the Right Scale for Global Reach

Healthcare is a global industry, but delivery models, regulatory frameworks, and commercial norms vary widely: not only from country to country but even within regions, such as from one U.S. state to another. Despite these differences, the underlying tools used to develop and manufacture diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines are largely universal. As a result, most companies, aside from the few focused exclusively on highly localized markets, aspire to reach customers beyond their immediate market.

For life science companies based in the United States or Europe, this often means seeking presence in both markets. Expansion into Asia is also becoming more attractive, though more complex. China, in particular, introduces unique regulatory and geopolitical dynamics that can pose challenges for smaller Western firms. In these cases, a more measured approach that focuses on establishing the scale necessary to be competitive in a few carefully chosen global markets is often the most effective strategy.

Global expansion is rarely about chasing every geography. For many of the companies Ampersand works with, achieving their goals often involves building enough international scale to be viewed as an effective strategic partner by global customers, without stretching organizational bandwidth too thin. For example, that might mean establishing a presence in the United States and Europe for a diagnostics company like NuvinkaDx or operating a select network of international labs for a clinical services provider like Resolian — rather than trying to cover the entire globe. The key is fit-for-purpose scale that matches both the company’s ambitions and its capacity to execute.

NuvinkaDx: A Transatlantic Playbook in Diagnostics

Ampersand Capital’s investment in ALPCO — a U.S.-based diagnostics company — laid the groundwork for a transatlantic growth strategy that took shape through the 2022 merger with Czech-based GeneProof. The combination created NuvinkaDx, a globally oriented diagnostics platform with complementary portfolios in immunodiagnostics and molecular testing and commercial reach across the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Ampersand helped architect the merger to align product strengths, geographic footprints, and regulatory capabilities. Rapid integration followed the close, with targeted leadership hires in both the United States and Europe and deliberate efforts to establish a unified organizational culture. Cross-border collaboration was key, not only at the executive level but also across R&D, manufacturing, and commercial operations.

Today, NuvinkaDx is operating with a global leadership team and transatlantic infrastructure, with new product development serving as a catalyst for future growth. The NuvinkaDx case highlights Ampersand’s ability to design and execute a cohesive international expansion strategy rooted in operational alignment and mutual value creation.

Resolian: Scaling a Global CRO Platform

Ampersand Capital’s 2021 investment in Alliance Pharma marked the beginning of a multi-year effort to transform a respected regional bioanalytical lab into a global contract research organization (CRO) now known as Resolian. The thesis was clear: as clinical trials globalize, sponsors increasingly seek CRO partners that can match their geographic reach while maintaining flexibility and scientific rigor.

To support this vision, Ampersand helped build a global footprint through targeted expansion across four continents. In 2022, a carve-out from UK-based LGC brought European scale and introduced KKR as a co-investor. That same year, a new laboratory was launched in Australia, leveraging local incentives and early-phase trial momentum. In 2023, Resolian entered China through the acquisition of Denali Medpharma, a high-quality lab with cultural and operational alignment.

Today, Resolian operates with harmonized capabilities across the United States, the UK, Australia, and China, creating a fully integrated midsize CRO platform. By expanding both geographic access and scientific capacity, Ampersand positioned Resolian as a global partner of choice for sponsors seeking end-to-end bioanalytical services.

Finding the Right Fit, Not Just a Target

For companies pursuing global expansion through acquisition, we believe success hinges on focus and fit. There’s no such thing as a perfect target, but understanding which traits truly matter, such as size, profitability, market niche, geographic footprint, technology base, ownership dynamics, and cultural compatibility, is critical. Strategic clarity at the outset may help avoid costly mismatches and aims to ensure that any acquisition accelerates rather than distracts from the broader growth agenda. This deliberate approach helps ensure that every acquisition adds strategic strength and supports the combined organization’s long-term growth rather than becoming a distraction or drain on resources.

At Ampersand, we take a disciplined and proactive approach to identifying and cultivating potential targets. Working closely with our portfolio companies, we define a clear set of criteria tailored to their strategic needs. Our outreach team then scans the landscape for businesses that align with those priorities and applies a structured grading system to rank them accordingly.

An Integrated Team for Transatlantic Growth

Ampersand is uniquely equipped to support companies expanding between the United States and Europe. With offices and dedicated teams in both regions, we operate as one integrated firm, not a disconnected set of outposts. This unified structure allows us to move quickly, coordinate and support our companies seamlessly across time zones, and apply a consistent strategy across borders. Our team’s experience spans dozens of transactions across both continents, covering a wide range of business types, from diagnostics, life sciences tools, and pharmaceutical services companies. Whether helping a U.S.-based company enter Europe or guiding a European firm into the U.S. market, we’ve developed a deep understanding of the strategic, operational, legal, and regulatory nuances involved. We believe this proximity and hands-on support can help manage risk, support more efficient timelines, and allow management teams to stay focused on running the business.

Defining Success

A successful outcome is about building resilient, scalable businesses and finding future owners committed to carrying that vision forward. Until that point, we remain deeply engaged—partnering with management teams to unlock synergies, expand revenue, optimize costs, and accelerate growth. For portfolio companies with strategic rationale, ambition, and opportunity to scale internationally, we help align timing, structure, and target markets to support long-term impact. With the right plan, the right partners, and the right execution, global expansion can become more than a milestone- it can support lasting competitive advantage.

This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide investment, legal, or other professional advice. Examples of portfolio companies are provided for illustrative purposes and do not guarantee future results. Past performance or outcomes are not indicative of future performance.