28 May 2024
Sycomore is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital, a leading pan-European private equity investor, is investing through Oakley Capital Fund V in ProductLife Group, a European provider of outsourced development, regulatory and compliance services to the global life sciences industry.
ProductLife Group provides development, regulatory affairs, market access, pharmacovigilance, quality management and digital transformation services mainly to clients in the pharmaceuticals industry. The business has a diversified customer base with over 1,000 clients including 75% of the 50 largest global pharma companies. Under the leadership of Xavier Duburcq, ProductLife Group has grown significantly over the last four years, completing 16 add-on acquisitions and generating double-digit organic revenue growth. Today, ProductLife Group employs more than 1,600 people and operates across 150+ countries globally.
Oakley will work alongside management and the reinvesting shareholder, 21 Invest, leveraging its buy-and-build track record, supporting the business’ continued international expansion and accelerating investments into AI technology to drive technology enablement of its services and operations.
Oakley Capital founder and Managing Partner Peter Dubens said:
“We’re pleased to be investing in ProductLife Group. This is an attractive business in a large, non-cyclical market where increased regulation and outsourcing are driving growth. At the same time, the Group’s investments in technology enablement are expected to drive competitive advantages in the coming years. We look forward to working with Xavier and his management team to take full advantage of this potential.”
ProductLife Group CEO Dr. Xavier Duburcq said:
“We see tremendous opportunity to expand our business in the fragmented pharma services market both organically but also through acquisitions. Oakley has significant expertise executing buy-and-build and internationalisation strategies and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with them on the next stage of ProductLife Group’s journey.”
In the context of this Transaction, Sycomore Corporate Finance acted as exclusive Financial Advisor to Oakley Capital. The transaction team comprised Tristan Dupont, Simon Crouzevialle, Thibault Danaguezian and Charles Daisay.