UDG Healthcare files first accounts since €3.2bn takeover by US private equity firm

Company delisted from London Stock Exchange last year after being bought by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice

UDG Healthcare delisted from the London Stock Exchange after being swooped upon by US private equity giant Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). Photograph: David Sleator/THE IRISH TIMES
UDG Healthcare delisted from the London Stock Exchange after being swooped upon by US private equity giant Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). Photograph: David Sleator/THE IRISH TIMES

Dublin healthcare services provider UDG Healthcare has filed its first set of accounts since a US private equity firm bought it for €3.2 billion in 2021.

The Dublin-registered unit is no longer a trading entity within the group, having become part of a larger group of healthcare services company under the Inizio banner since the deal late last year.

UDG Healthcare delisted from the London Stock Exchange after US private equity giant Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD & R) took it over in a deal valued at £2.6 billion (€3.15 billion) in 2021.

Accounts filed this week by UDG Healthcare this week reveal a more than fourfold increase in profits at the subsidiary in 2021 from €179 million the previous year to more than €791 million last year.

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However, due to the acquisition, 2021 was not an ordinary financial year for the Irish company. It is understood that the dramatic increase in profits is mostly due to an uplift in the value of the companies financial investments in subsidiary undertakings related to CD & R’s takeover of the business.

Before the sale, UDG was concentrated on two businesses: Ashfield, which provided drugmakers with outsourced services such as sales reps and healthcare communications; and Sharp Packaging.

After the takeover Ashfield was integrated with another CD & R-owned company, Huntsworth, to form Inizio. Sharp, meanwhile, was separated from the group last year and is being run independently under the CD & R banner, according to results filed by its ultimate parent, Hunter Holdco, earlier this year.

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times