Lower mid-market private equity firm NorthEdge has backed the primary management buyout of Meet, an international talent provider to the life sciences sector.
Meet is a global talent acquisition partner to some of the world’s most exciting life sciences businesses. The company services clients across three core, high growth verticals: Pharma, Med-Tech and Healthcare Communications, working with a broad range of blue-chip multinationals and emerging start-ups.
The business employs 160 people across its offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Berlin, and has grown revenues at a CAGR of 28 per cent over the last three years. As part of its continued expansion, Meet is forecasting to hire over 200 additional people in the next few years. This will help to address the significant forecast demand from the life sciences talent market which is expected to deliver double-digit year-on-year growth through to 2025.
NorthEdge’s investment backs Meet CEO and founder Hannah Donaldson, who helped set up the business in 2009. Following the deal Meet will continue to invest in its people and grow its capacity to support the demand in the high-growth life sciences market. NorthEdge will also support the business to broaden its global office network and client base, as well as accelerating growth through M&A.
Donaldson says: “We are really proud of the business we’ve built. We have a diverse range of extremely talented people working with us, which has allowed us to grow the company at an impressive rate over the last few years – expanding globally and targeting new markets and customers.
“It was important to us that our private equity partner had the same vision and values as we do. NorthEdge places huge emphasis on people, culture and sustainability, which aligns with how we do things at Meet. This is a really exciting journey that we’re embarking on and we’re delighted to have a partner like NorthEdge on board.”
The investment was funded from NorthEdge Fund III, which targets investments in the GBP10-GBP50 million range, and led by Managing Partner Ray Stenton, Director and Head of North West Phil Frame, Director Liam May and Investment Directors Kevin O’Loughlin and James Marshall. Ray Stenton and Phil Frame will join Meet’s board.
Ray Stenton says: “The life sciences sector generates GBP80 billion turnover annually in the UK alone. Meet has demonstrated that it has a deep understanding of the sector and has built an enviable client base as a result.
“The depth of their client relationships coupled with their ability to grow a globally successful business is testament to Hannah and her team’s impressive talent. We’re thrilled to have Meet join our growing portfolio of healthcare businesses and look forward to working alongside the team to continue to grow the business over the coming years.”
NorthEdge was advised by DC Advisory (Rob Jones and Mark Ward) who provided corporate finance & banking advice, DLA Piper (Andy Phillips) who provided legal advice and Candesic (Joe Taylor and Phil Carrivick) who provided commercial due diligence. HSBC provided debt facilities to support the deal and were advised by Addleshaw Goddard.
Meet was advised by Clearwater (Marcus Archer and Will Arnold) who provided corporate finance services, Liberty (Simon Hill and Jeff Soh) who acted as management advisors, RSM (John Price) who provided financial due diligence, CIL (James Silk) who provided vendor commercial due diligence and Osborne Clarke (Matthew Bodfield and Alistair Francis) who provided legal advice.
