Vitruvian Acquires Majority Shareholding In Phlexglobal From Bridgepoint

AMERSHAM, England & MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Phlexglobal, the world-renowned thought leaders and specialists in the provision of electronic Trial Master File (eTMF) systems and services to the life sciences industry, today announced a significant investment by funds managed by Vitruvian Partners (“Vitruvian”). The transaction establishes Vitruvian as majority shareholder of Phlexglobal, while previous majority investor Bridgepoint Development Capital (“BDC”) will exit the company.

“As the outsourced pharmaceutical industry has grown on the back of increased R&D spend and more complex regulation, so too has Phlexglobal expanded with new technology and services. By extending its reach to customers the company is now well placed to accelerate development further under new ownership.”

BDC has been a supportive partner to Phlexglobal since 2014. The new ownership will enable Phlexglobal to expand the global footprint of its industry-leading service offering and PhlexEview4 technology platform, in order to build on the Company’s premier position in a fast-growing market.

Rick Riegel, Chief Executive Officer of Phlexglobal, commented:

“The Trial Master File is at the center of the clinical trial workflow and crucial to managing increasing regulatory scrutiny. We expect growth across all aspects of the business as pharmaceutical sponsors recognize the advantages of both quality and efficiency in their TMF processes, thereby drawing increasingly on specialist TMF technology and service providers. We have enjoyed significant growth under BDC’s ownership, extended our customer and operational base and relaunched PhlexEview, our eTMF platform. As we seek to continue to strengthen and extend our market-leading customer proposition, the investment from Vitruvian allows us to accelerate our plans and further enhance the depth and breadth of our technology and service offerings.”

Philip Russmeyer, a Partner at Vitruvian, added:

“Vitruvian is delighted to invest in Phlexglobal at a time of continued rapid market growth for eTMF services and technology providers, and following the highly successful launch of the PhlexEview4 platform. Our investment will allow the company to build on this success and to accelerate growth both organically and inorganically by further leveraging its unique full-service technology-enabled proposition. We are very pleased to partner with Phlexglobal’s outstanding management team and look forward to jointly driving the next phase of the company’s global development.”

Alan Payne, a partner of Bridgepoint Development Capital, said:

“As the outsourced pharmaceutical industry has grown on the back of increased R&D spend and more complex regulation, so too has Phlexglobal expanded with new technology and services. By extending its reach to customers the company is now well placed to accelerate development further under new ownership.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

For further information on Phlexglobal, please visit http://www.phlexglobal.com

About Phlexglobal

Phlexglobal is a leading provider of Trial Master File (TMF) solutions for global clinical trials, and has been central to the maturation of the TMF across the industry through participation in the creation of the TMF Reference Model. With approximately 70 active clients including 26 of the top 50 pharmaceutical companies, Phlexglobal is recognized as the predominant global TMF specialist in the market.

The company’s cloud-based, fully configurable PhlexEview eTMF platform supports the company’s full service offerings including TMF Processing, Quality Control, Re-mapping, Archiving and a wide range of consultancy services. Phlexglobal operates from five offices, across the US, the UK and Poland.

The company and previous shareholders including Bridgepoint Development Capital were advised by Baird, Travers Smith, CIL, EY and Intuitus. The management team was further advised by Liberty Corporate Finance, BDO, Fox Rothschild and Shoosmiths.

About Vitruvian Partners

Vitruvian is an independent private equity firm which specializes in growth middle-market investments. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across industries spanning information technology, life sciences & healthcare, media, and financial, business and consumer services. Vitruvian is currently investing the Vitruvian Investment Partnership II, which closed in December 2013 at its self-imposed cap of £1 billion. The firm’s previous investments in the technology and healthcare sectors include CRF Health, Just Eat, Snow Software, Callcredit Information Group and Healthcare at Home.

Vitruvian was advised by BDO, Kirkland & Ellis, Marlborough Partners, PwC, KPMG, Bearing Point, Marsh and Wardynski.

About Bridgepoint Development Capital

Bridgepoint Development Capital (‘BDC’) provides funding to businesses headquartered in France, the Nordic region and the UK, typically buyouts valued up to £150 million. BDC has a team of 26 investment professionals wholly dedicated to its investment activity and operating from offices in London, Paris and Stockholm. It is part of Bridgepoint, the international private equity group, which invests in businesses valued between €20 million and €1 billion from a network of offices in Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Stockholm and Warsaw. BDC is currently investing BDC III, a £600 million fund focused on investments in fast growing businesses in Europe valued up to £150 million.