21 Invest France confirms its positive momentum

Paris, France – May 28, 2024

21 Invest France announces the successful divestment of ProductLife Group (PLG), global expert in regulatory compliance for the healthcare industry, to a newly established continuation fund to further support the group’s expansion plans in joint control with Oakley Capital.

With this most recent exit and re-investment, the French management company of the European platform 21 Invest further demonstrates the relevance of its new positioning put in place in 2017 with François Barbier taking over as CEO in France. Underpinned by its sector focus, high degree of transaction selectivity and robust value creation framework, 21 Invest France is successfully delivering consistent outperformance and meaningful liquidity to its growing base of investors.

PLG: another success story in the portfolio of 21 Invest France

PLG is a global expert in regulatory affairs and compliance consulting for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 1,000 clients ranging from pharmaceutical companies, biotech and medtech companies, the group covers the entire lifecycle of pharmaceutical products, from development to post-marketing vigilance, across more than 150 countries.

PLG entered 21 Invest France’s portfolio in 2019 through a buyout from its founder. The group has been profoundly transformed ever since, starting with the recruitment of six new top managers, including Xavier Duburcq in 2020 as CEO. The company expanded rapidly, driven by double-digit organic growth turbocharged by 16 bolt-on acquisitions spanning 9 countries not only in Europe but also in the United States, India or Australia. Over five years, the group has broadened its areas of expertise, improved its global coverage and optimized the competitiveness of its service offering, to reach sales of €167 million to date.

With new resources required to accelerate its development, a capital reorganization was carried out as part of an M&A process led by Evercore Healthcare’s teams. The deal values the group at nearly €500 million and enables all shareholders to exit.

In addition to its management team, which is reinvesting significantly, PLG will be jointly controlled by Oakley Capital and 21 Invest France, which is reinvesting through its sixth fund vintage and newly established continuation fund. This dedicated vehicle was raised with the support of Evercore PCA as financial advisor, and Eurazeo and Hayfin as lead investors. Other investors are joining in syndication including Arcano, CA Indosuez Wealth Management and Vintage Strategies at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

The transaction was completed on May 23rd, 2024 and marks an important step forward for PLG, which has now been given substantial resources to support its ambitious expansion strategy. For 21 Invest France, this successful exit represents a highly attractive return of capital to its Fund V investors, whilst retaining strategic exposure to the value creation potential of a well-known asset.

Fabrice Voituron, Managing Partner of 21 Invest France says: “PLG is a perfect illustration of our day-to-day mission: identify a well-positioned company within a promising market, and accelerate its growth potential. Working alongside Xavier Duburcq and his team, we have strengthened PLG’s global leadership position and bolstered its areas of expertise, increasing its size seven-fold. The Group has become a recognized platform combining double-digit organic growth with significant potential for consolidation. Our reinvestment is a testament of our confidence in PLG’s potential and reflects our desire to continue the journey of making PLG a world leader in its segment, alongside Oakley Capital as our new partner.”

21 Invest France’s model change is yielding positive results

Whilst continuing to build on its long-standing expertise in driving growth transformation, the management company has refocused its investment strategy around 4 sectors: Tech/Software, Healthcare, B2B Services and Education. 21 Invest France supports these companies, which are often family-owned, to take on a new dimension and become category champions.

This new momentum, led by the current management team made up of three Managing Partners (François Barbier, Stéphane Perriquet and Fabrice Voituron) and two Partners (Antoine Vigneron and Dorothée Chatain), has now proved its effectiveness:

• • Robust performance for Fund V (2017 vintage): with the three successful exits of DL Software (now Orisha), LV Overseas and PLG, Fund V delivers an average gross realized performance of c.4x cash on cash, and a DPI of 120% whilst retaining meaningful upside across six remaining companies in the portfolio.
• • Fund VI (2022 vintage) already out of its J-curve: our new fund has completed three investments to date, with Agorastore (BtoB platform for digital auctions), Conex (expert in software solutions for customs procedures) and now PLG. A number of opportunities are under review for a fourth investment over the coming months.
• • €500 million distributed to our investors over the last three years: in addition to the five recent exits out of Funds IV and V, several additional exits are planned to be completed before the end of the year.
• • Strong support from investors: with a total of €420 million raised over the past two years (of which 80% coming from institutional investors and 20% from family offices and former portfolio company managers):
  • €220 million for the continuation fund, which will support ProductLife Group as it continues to expand worldwide;
  • €200 million for Fund VI, which is entering its final fundraising phase and on track to reach its target of €250 to 300 million by November 2024.

This positive news flow underscores the strength and relevance of 21 Invest France’s position in the French lower mid-market.

François Barbier, Managing Partner & CEO of 21 Invest France comments: “This streak of successes is the direct result of our teams’ unwavering commitment to our strategy and marks an important milestone for 21 Invest in France, validating the changes made in 2017. The successful exit of PLG and concurrent creation of a widely endorsed continuation fund vehicle, coupled with the €420 million raised internationally this year to date demonstrate the relevance of our vision and approach, as well as our investors’ confidence in our ability to generate attractive and consistent returns. We intend to capitalize on this momentum to reach our target for Fund VI over the next few months.”

List of participants | ProductLife Group (Transaction)

ProductLife Group (Xavier Duburcq, Christophe Richarme, Thomas Galvain, Charlène Travers)
21 Invest France (Fabrice Voituron, Hadrien Jourdan, Philippine Zaro, Valentin Vaissiere) ;
Oakley Capital (Ralf Schremper, Alex Collins, Andre Augustin, Philipp Tillmann) ;

Advisors to the Sellers

M&A Advisor: Evercore Healthcare (Chris Whittaker, Simon Elliott, Israel Akinrinsola, Simon Heffels, Juan Leblanc, Gaia Cairelli); Management Advisors: Jeausserand-Audouard (Antoine Dufrane, Tristan Audouard, Anita Auvray, Bastien Derrieux, Juliette Chevrier) ; Financial VDD: KPMG (Antoine Bernabeu, Hugo Deleplace, Théo Canonne, Alexis Brusacoram) ; Strategic VDD: Bain (Patrick Biecheler, Pierre-Antoine Bodin, Florian Le Louarn) ;
Legal & Tax Advisor: De Pardieu Brocas Maffei (Hugues de Fouchier, Laura Delas, Pierre-Alexis Biehler, Jean-François Pourdieu — Corporate, Priscilla Van den Perre, Pierre-Alexandre Pujol — Tax, Côme Chaine, Justine Minguet — Regulatory, Alexandre Eberhardt — Competition), Thibaut Lechoux — Financing),

Financing

Barings (Antoine Gosselin-Mercury, Louis Godest, Christel Huguet); Legal Advisor: Nabarro Béraud Avocats (Magali Beraud, Marie Santunione, Léo Lebaut)

List of participants | ProductLife Group (Continuation Fund)

21 Invest France (François Barbier, Fabrice Voituron, Céline Launay, Thomas Ravel, Astou Ciss)

Financial Advisor: Evercore PCA (Jasmine Hunet Lamourille, Ismaeel Hussain, Mark Bratton, Helena Martin); Legal Advisor: Clifford Chance (Xavier Comaills, Elodie Cinconze, Patrick Biancaniello, Alexandre Gardini — Fund, Gilles Lebreton, Charlotte Hershkovitch — Corporate, Pierre Goyat, Elise Poiraud — Tax) ; Syndication Support in quality of Fund VI Placement Agent: Reach Capital (Jean-Philippe Boige, Hadrien Titié, Pauline Guyot)

About 21 Invest

Founded by Alessandro Benetton, the 21 Invest group has been an active and responsible shareholder alongside management teams for 32 years and has supported over 110 companies based in France, Italy and Poland through local funds. In France, the investment strategy focuses on companies combining growth and recurrence in 4 sectors: healthcare, technology/software, education and business services. 21 Invest supports the transformation of companies by providing its expertise in structuring and accelerating growth, particularly through market consolidation.

For more information, visit www.21invest.com

Contact: Astou Ciss, Investor Management & Marketing, [email protected]

About ProductLife Group

ProductLife Group’s mission is to support patient access to safe and effective healthcare solutions by delivering worldwide consulting and outsourcing services through the entire product life.

Combining local expertise with global reach spanning more than 150 countries, PLG is the Life Sciences Industries reference strategic partner for the development, market introduction and life cycle management of product portfolios, and the related business and digital transformation.
With a goal of continuously improving the value delivered to teams and clients, PLG is committed to long-term partnership, innovation, flexibility, and cost efficiency.

For more information, please visit www.productlifegroup.com

Contact: Fabrice Galzin, Global Head of Marketing, [email protected]

About Oakley Capital

Oakley Capital is the partner of choice for entrepreneurs and management teams with the ambition to build successful, global businesses. With a diverse team of almost 200 professionals across five locations including London, Munich, Milan, and Madrid, Oakley Capital backs high-growth, mid-market companies across Europe. The fund has deep sector-expertise across Technology, Consumer, Education and Business Services, and a track-record of supporting businesses accelerate their growth with proven value creation strategies, including M&A, digitisation, talent management and internationalisation. Its unique origination capabilities help unearth attractive investment opportunities yielding consistently strong returns for all stakeholders. In 2023, Oakley raised a record €4.8 billion, including for Oakley Capital Fund V and Origin Fund II, bringing the total AuM to c.€11 billion.

For more information, please visit www.oakleycapital.com

Contact: James Isola, Head of Communications, [email protected]