Norton Rose Fulbright advises Fengate Private Equity on acquisition of Clinical Research of West Florida

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised Fengate Private Equity, a division of Fengate Asset Management, in its acquisition of a majority stake in Clinical Research of West Florida, LLC (CRWF), an independent clinical research site network serving the Tampa Bay region. The deal closed on October 2, 2026.

CRWF operates three research facilities across Tampa and Clearwater, including a dedicated Phase I unit for early-stage clinical research. The company has supported more than 1,000 trials across Phases I through IV for nearly 300 global biopharmaceutical sponsors and contract research organizations.

The deal supports CRWF's trial capacity expansion through continued investment in talent, site infrastructure and therapeutic depth. Fengate is managing the investment on behalf of the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada.

"This transaction reflects the continued investment and activity we're seeing across the clinical research sector," said Gordon Klein, who led Norton Rose Fulbright's representation. "It's an area that continues to attract significant interest as the broader healthcare and life sciences landscape evolves."

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Gordon Klein (Chicago) and Andrew Smolik (St. Louis), and included Seth Aigner, Virginia Duong (Chicago) and Mark Faccenda (Washington, DC).

The firm's corporate, M&A and securities lawyers advise corporations, investors and financial institutions on complex domestic and cross-border transactions across the full spectrum of industry matters, including public takeovers, private M&A, joint ventures, disposals, debt and equity capital markets, governance, general commercial and corporate advisory issues.