Healthcare entrepreneurs launch new investment company
Healthcare entrepreneurs Richard Anderson and Spencer Kerry have launched a new investment company designed to be a catalyst for innovation and growth in the healthcare sector.
Impel Healthcare Catalysts is based in Knutsford and will provide growth capital along with strategic expertise, primarily to businesses based in the UK, making use of the management team’s broad healthcare knowledge and track record to deliver rapid growth and strong returns.
It will typically invest in companies with enterprise values up to £50m initially, and also has the capability to co-invest with other debt and equity funders.
Anderson and Kerry were an integral part of the management team behind Crawford Healthcare, the innovative wound care business based in Cheshire.
Established by Anderson in 2009, the pair oversaw Crawford’s expansion from a small North West company to an international organisation with 150 staff, innovating rapidly and breaking into the notoriously difficult US healthcare market and achieving revenues of more than £30m.
In June 2018, the pair completed the award-winning $126m sale of Crawford to US-based Acelity, the biggest advanced wound care company globally.
Impel has already developed a strong pipeline of transactions, with its first deal expected to complete before the end of the year.
Through an extensive network of contacts, the firm’s portfolio will receive a full spectrum of agile business support, covering finance, research and development and marketing to drive growth.
Richard Anderson said: “With our experience of working across both blue chip and start-up companies in the healthcare sector, we recognise the potential that many of the UK’s businesses have to expand both nationally and internationally.
“We already have a proven ability to make strategic investments, as well as executing a hugely successful exit for management teams, and this nimbleness, agility and transparency will be at the heart of our approach with Impel.
“Our background gives us a clear point of difference from other investors, and by backing some of the most disruptive, tech-enabled businesses, we will use this knowledge to drive growth across a broad portfolio of healthcare, medtech and pharmaceutical companies.”
