Indian multinational Tech Mahindra has acquired control of Perigord Life Science Solutions from founders Alan Leamy (55) and Paul Leamy (58) and company investors.
Perigord provides packaging, artwork and labelling services for the pharmaceutical industry. The company, which is active in Ireland, India and elsewhere, had turnover of €19.5m in 2020.
Tech Mahindra is paying the selling shareholders €21m upfront for 70% of the Perigord equity. Them deal calls for a four-year earnout for the remaining 30% of the Perigord equity linked to financial performance.
Tech Mahindra employs almost 125,000 people globally and is valued at $5 billion.
As part of the deal, Perigord will take charge of Tech Mahindra’s design and packaging centre in Hyderabad, which will be integrated into Perigord’s global network.
Perigord chief executive Alan Leamy (pictured) said: “We are looking forward to joining forces with the Tech Mahindra family as this partnership is the perfect mix of scale, technology, expertise and timing that will enable the company to continue our journey as the world’s leading provider in pharmaceutical labelling, artwork and workflow solutions.
“Both companies’ future ambitions and desires to digitally transform the world of pharmaceutical packaging services will deliver long-term innovative solutions to our clients that will future proof their needs over the next ten years.”
Perigord has a complicated corporate structure. Perigord Premedia Ltd was incorporated in 1997, with Paul Leamy becoming a director in 1999 and Alan Leamy becoming a director in 2002.
Locarno Investments Ltd, the holding company for multiple Perigord operating companies, reported turnover of €13.8m in 2018. According to Tech Mahindra, revenue increased to €16.8m in 2019 and then €19.5m last year.
Perigord’s expansion was fuelled with finance from Development Capital Fund, managed by BDO, which invested €2.4m in February 2016. Development Capital Fund followed on in 2017 with €3m in the form of convertible redeemable preference shares with a funding cost of 12% p.a. The fund was due to be paid back by June 2022.
Perigord is the fifth exit for the fund, achieving a “significant return” for the fund’s investors, according to BDO’s Sinéad Heaney.
“The fund’s investment in Perigord is evidence of how the fund supports high calibre, ambitious, determined management teams by providing not only the funding to achieve their growth plans, but also actively supporting management teams post investment to assist them as they exploit and maximise their growth opportunities,” Heaney added.