News
LDC backs PAM to expand
28 Jun 2021
Leading mid-market private equity firm LDC has completed a minority investment in preventative healthcare specialist PAM to help the existing management team to drive organic growth and support a series of new product launches.
Headquartered in Warrington, PAM is one of the largest occupational health and wellbeing providers in the UK. It offers a full-service of integrated occupational health programmes to clients which include leading blue-chip and public sector organisations, supporting more than 600,000 employees at over 1,000 businesses.
PAM’s services include absence management, health surveillance, physiotherapy, employee assistance programmes, psychological support, corporate health assessments and neurodiversity assessments. These are delivered by PAM’s 400-strong workforce from locations across the UK via a combination of mobile, remote, on-site and clinic-based services.
The partnership with LDC will support PAM in delivering its ambitious organic growth strategy to further enhance its services. This includes the development of a suite of new products, including telemedicine services and digital cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) services.
LDC is backing the existing management team, led by founder and CEO James Murphy. Under James’s leadership, PAM has delivered significant growth since it was founded in 2004, recording turnover of £29m in 2020. It has established its market-leading position through a combination of strong organic growth and by completing four acquisitions to broaden its services into neurodiversity assessments and products.
The transaction will see Andy Parker join PAM’s board as a Non-Executive Chairman. Andy was formerly the CEO of Capita and brings a wealth of experience in supporting growth strategies within the public and private outsourcing sector.
The investment was led by Aziz Ul-Haq, Richard Ibbett and Grant Goodwin at LDC in Manchester. As part of the transaction, Aziz and Richard will also be joining the board.
Over the last 17 years, PAM has gone from strength to strength and has become the industry leader in occupational health, supporting the wellbeing of thousands of employees across the UK. We chose to partner with LDC to further develop the services we provide our clients and, more importantly, their people."
“We really like LDC’s collaborative approach to private equity investment and are looking forward to having their counsel on our board. Their track record in supporting healthcare businesses to grow speaks for itself. We can’t wait to see what we will achieve together.”
Aziz Ul-Haq, Director at LDC in Manchester, added: “Employers are placing more importance than ever on the health and wellbeing of their employees. James and his ambitious team have established PAM as the go-to provider of holistic employee health and wellbeing programmes. When they came to LDC with a clear strategy for the business’ next phase of growth, we knew it was a team we wanted to back.”
In the past six months LDC’s North West team has completed three investments. The PAM transaction follows investments in Rochdale-based Wireless CCTV, the market-leading supplier of redeployable surveillance solutions, and in digital learning provider Omniplex.
LDC was advised by Grant Thornton and DWF. Dow Schofield Watts provided financial due diligence, and PMSI provided commercial due diligence. The management team was advised by Hill Dickinson.