“Become the global reference player in regulatory affairs & pharmacovigilance for pharmaceutical laboratories”

ProductLife Group, based in Paris, was founded in 1993. The group operates at the crossroads of Healthcare and Business services providing regulatory affairs and pharmacovigilance management for pharmaceutical laboratories. Its day-to-day business consists in putting drugs or medical devices onto the market, maintaining them throughout their life cycle and then monitoring side effects . Supported by 21 Invest in France, ProductLife Group has structured its organization and now optimizes its organic growth and accelerates its buy-and-build strategy in France and internationally.

21 Invest France invested in ProductLife Group in 2019, in the frame of a primary transaction, with the objective to assert the leadership of the group and intensify its international coverage to serve more and more Life Science corporations in their worldwide operations.

Institutionalization
Right from the investment date, ProductLife Group has undertaken a deep transformation plan which required to rethink the organization and make it ready for the ambitious international development. Regarding the structuring aspects, 21 Invest recruited Xavier Duburcq as new CEO and together we implemented all the necessary tools to monitor financial and commercial performance. We also created an M&A Department and implemented the right financial structure to support the group’s growth.

Growth
Over the first years of the investment, 21 Invest initiated the platform strategy roll-out with the completion of multiple acquisitions enabling ProductLife Group to tackle new segments such as pre-marketing of consulting services, and/or to intensify its geographical footprint in the US, Central Europe or Asia. Many other opportunities have been identified to reach a critical size by the end of 21 Invest’s tenure.

Sustainability
Supported by 21 Invest, they notably set up dedicated ESG KPIs and they became signatory of the UN Global Compact initiative. The investment was the first investment of its generation of Funds to transform its financial debt into an ESG debt, including objectives in the areas of parity, young talents recruitment or employee share scheme.