DALLAS, Sept. 29, 2026 — Canyon Partners, LLC (“Canyon”), a $30 billion global alternative investment manager, today announced that it has served as arranger and anchor lender for a NZ$300 million financing to support Advent International’s (“Advent”) acquisition of NZCR Group (“NZCR”), a leading clinical trials and medical research organization in New Zealand and Australia.
NZCR Group is a leading physician-led clinical research organisation with more than 35 years of research experience and a strong track record in complex early and later-phase studies. Headquartered in Auckland, the company has operations across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).
The financing enables Advent to support the company’s next stage of growth and work alongside the NZCR management team as they look to further enhance the group’s capabilities across the clinical trial spectrum, with a particular focus on strengthening sponsor and CRO relationships and international reach as part of the Advent portfolio.
“We are excited to support NZCR’s continued development and to work again with Advent, whose deep sector expertise and strong track record of partnering with management teams make them an ideal fit for the business,” said Davide Amico, Partner and Co-Head of Private Credit at Canyon. “It’s our pleasure to leverage our capabilities as a global investment firm to support Advent on deals originated from their new Australian office and be a reliable financing partner in the ANZ market as we long have in the United States, Europe and beyond.”
Canyon’s investment is underpinned by the sustained growth of the ANZ clinical research market and NZCR’s strong positioning within the sector as a reliable and trusted partner to biotech and pharma sponsors globally.
“NZCR has built a strong platform with meaningful growth momentum, and we see significant opportunity as the ANZ market continues to attract an increasing share of global clinical trial activity,” said Maximilian Lichtenheld, Managing Director at Canyon. “We are pleased to support Advent as they bring their expertise to this next stage of growth, working alongside existing management to help the business capitalize on these opportunities.”
“Advent has been following NZCR Group’s success and growth for over 18 months, and we continue to be impressed by the quality of the platform, its clinical leadership, and the trust it has built with biopharma and biotech clients,” remarked Beau Dixon, Managing Director and Head of Australia and New Zealand at Advent. “We look forward to partnering with management and existing shareholders to unlock NZCR Group’s full potential and introduce the business into Advent’s global network. We see exceptional opportunities to build on NZCR Group’s strengths while preserving the clinical focus that underpins its success.”
About Canyon Partners, LLC
Founded in 1990, Canyon employs a deep value, credit intensive approach across public and private corporate credit, asset-backed credit, and real estate. The firm seeks to capture excess returns available to those investors with specialized expertise, rigorous research capabilities, and the ability to underwrite complexity. Canyon invests on behalf of a broad range of institutions globally. For more information visit www.canyonpartners.com.
About Advent
Advent is a leading global private equity investor committed to working in partnership with management teams, entrepreneurs, and founders to help transform businesses. With 17 offices across five continents, we oversee more than USD $94 billion in assets under management* and have made 451 investments across 45 countries.
Since our founding in 1984, we have developed specialist market expertise across our five core sectors: business & financial services, consumer, healthcare, industrial, and technology. This approach is bolstered by our deep sub-sector knowledge, which informs every aspect of our investment strategy, from sourcing opportunities to working in partnership with management to execute value creation plans. We bring hands-on operational expertise to enhance and accelerate businesses.
As one of the largest privately-owned partnerships, our 675 colleagues leverage the full ecosystem of Advent’s global resources, including our Portfolio Support Group, insights provided by industry expert Operating Partners and Operations Advisors, as well as bespoke tools to support and guide our portfolio companies as they seek to achieve their strategic goals.
To learn more, visit our website or connect with us on LinkedIn.
*Assets under management (AUM) as of March 31, 2026. AUM includes assets attributable to Advent advisory clients as well as employee and third-party co-investment vehicles.
About NZCR Group
NZCR Group, made up of NZCR, CMAX, Optimal, and Fusion, are a combined single clinical trials organisation offering integrated Phase I-IV clinical trial capability across New Zealand and Australia.
With over 30 years’ experience, the clinician led group has vast experience across a significant number of therapeutic areas and strong relationships with loyal sponsor companies in a multitude of international markets.
NZCR has some of the most experienced early and late phase research clinicians globally supported by a high-quality group of employees helping in the delivery of groundbreaking research to advance global health.
Media Contacts
Canyon Partners:
Kris Cole
Prosek Partners
[email protected]
(310) 614 9208
Advent International:
Peter Folland
Vice President, Communications, Advent
[email protected]
SOURCE Canyon Partners LLC
