Sepha, a Northern Irish maker of blister-packaging machines for pharmaceutical companies, has been acquired in a management buyout (MBO) backed by venture capital firm Enterprise Equity.
The purchase of the Co Down-based company was led by Norman McKeown, Sepha's managing director, according to a statement released yesterday by Enterprise Equity. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.
"The MBO will enable the company to accelerate the development and sales of its products worldwide," Mr McKeown said. "Enterprise Equity has made the MBO process very straightforward."
Sepha sells machines for blisterpacking, deblistering and the detection of leaks in blister packs throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. It has made products for 96 of the 100 largest pharmaceutical companies in the past five years, including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly.
The company designs and manufactures machines that make moulded pieces of plastic used to package drugs and other products. Its most established product is the EZ Blister, which enables healthcare companies to reduce the amount of time it takes to bring a new drug on the market.
Enterprise Equity is part of the Enterprise Equity Venture Group, which has offices in Belfast, Dundalk, Cork and Galway. The group was set up in 1987 by the International Fund for Ireland, and manages a fund of £40 million (€59.1 million).
Enterprise Equity's Craig Holmes will join Sepha's board as a non-executive director. The venture capital firm invested €600,000 in August in Celtrak, a Galway company that developed technology to track vehicles online and also led the investment in June into Belfast-based medical technology firms Sensor Technology & Devices and TruCorp.
