Idis
Building a global leader. Enabling Idis to fulfil its potential.
The opportunity
Idis is a leading importer and supplier of unlicensed pharmaceuticals sourced from around the world. The company has two distinct activities: sourcing and supplying drugs which are currently unlicensed within a domestic territory from an overseas territory where they are licensed; and a Managed Access Programme (MAP) that creates access to drugs still in investigational phase to patients with clear unmet medical needs via a series of global managed access programmes.
The management team was seeking operational and financial support to significantly expand the business in terms of its management, its geographies and the services it provided to clients. There was a particular opportunity to build out the MAP business, which had clear potential but was still in its early days.
The strategy
We provided capital to enable the Idis management team to complete a management buyout from the original founders of the business.
A key focus for our team was to help Idis to become a global leader in the MAP area, and we worked together with the management team to grow this nascent business. We created a strong and robust platform for the business, implementing a new ERP system and improving budgetary controls, and we enhanced the management team. This included appointing a high quality Chairman and a Non-Executive Director from a strong regulatory and quality background.
The Result
During the period of our investment, EBITDA grew from £3.6m to £15.6m, headcount increased from 69 to 189, and Idis became the clear global leader in MAPs. By March 2015, the business was operating 66 MAPs and held more than a 90% market share of MAPs for the top 25 pharmaceutical companies.
We realised our investment through a sale to Clinigen Group plc, an AIM listed speciality pharmaceuticals and pharmaceuticals services business, for an Enterprise Value of £225m. The investment generated a return of 22x our invested capital.
Idis is now the clear market leader in a market with highly attractive long term growth fundamentals. CBPE have been an outstanding partner, fully supporting us as we have grown the business over the long term. The acquisition by Clinigen marks the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the continued development of the business.
