Halifax Teams with Management to Acquire Envision Pharma, Inc.
WASHINGTON, DC — June 18, 2013 — The Halifax Group (“Halifax”), a leading middle-market private equity firm, announced today that it has acquired Envision Pharma, Inc. (“Envision”) from a subsidiary of Express Scripts Holding Co. Envision is an innovative global technology and scientific communication company focused on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Halifax partnered with management to provide a substantial equity investment. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Envision offers a unique blend of solutions including strategic publication planning and related data dissemination and consultancy services, enhanced with industry-leading complementary technology solutions. Envision Pharma has five offices, two in the United Kingdom and three in the United States including offices in Philadelphia, PA; Southport, CT; and Glastonbury, CT. The company employs approximately 280 team members, including over 125 highly-qualified and experienced in-house medical writers and a 50-strong technology solutions team providing platform development and customer support. Envision currently provides service and product solutions to more than 65 client companies, including 18 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies.
Envision’s CEO, Brian Hepburn, commented, “Thanks to the hard work of our employees and enduring commitment of our customers, we successfully navigated our sale process and are excited to begin our next phase of growth in partnership with the Halifax team. Halifax’s proven expertise in pharma and health services made them the ideal partner of choice for our company, and their involvement will enable us to invest in several new innovative platforms and related services to further support the evolving needs of our clients.”
“Envision provides industry-leading technology and services to many of the world’s foremost pharmaceutical and medical technology companies,” noted David Dupree, managing director at Halifax. “These compliance-driven services are critical to the pharmaceutical development and commercialization process, and we believe the company is well-positioned to build on its 12 year track record of success.”
“As populations age worldwide, novel drugs and medical technologies are becoming ever more important to fighting disease. We are pleased to be able to work with a management team focused on assisting these pharmaceutical and medical technology companies to communicate their data in a transparent and compliant manner,” added Halifax principal Scott Plumridge.
About Envision
Founded in 2001, Envision Pharma is an innovative global technology and scientific communication company serving pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. Envision has grown steadily under consistent leadership across its three core business areas that include (i) Scientific Solutions – strategic publication planning and related data dissemination services; (ii) Technology Solutions – design, development, implementation and support of innovative and strategic management software for life sciences clients including publication planning and management (DatavisionTM), clearance approval (dvClear™), and activity request management (Visiontracker™); and (iii) Professional Consulting Solutions – policy, process, compliance and guideline consultancy to life-science companies.
About The Halifax Group
The Halifax Group is a private equity firm that partners with managers and entrepreneurs to recapitalize and grow lower middle-market businesses across a variety of industries including health and wellness, infrastructure, business and government services, and franchising. The firm maintains offices in Washington, D.C.; Dallas, TX; and Raleigh, NC. For more information, please visit www.thehalifaxgroup.com.
