New York, NY and Chicago, IL — MidOcean Partners ("MidOcean"), a premier U.S. middle market private equity firm focused on the business services and consumer sectors, today announced it has closed the sale of its majority investment in The Planet Group ("Planet"), which will merge with ProPharma Group ("ProPharma"), a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners.
In January 2018, MidOcean invested in Planet to escalate the company's strategic initiatives and drive continued growth. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Legacy FocalPoint Partners, LLC, now B. Riley Securities ("B. Riley"), served as advisor to Planet in connection with its sale to MidOcean in 2018 and as co-advisor to MidOcean and Planet on this transaction.
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Planet is one of the world's leading diversified professional services organizations. Planet provides high-value outsourced global workforce solutions and consulting services to Fortune 500 and other top companies in a multitude of high-growth sectors. Planet's family of nine entities was purposely built to address the professional service needs of leading companies in the life sciences, diversified energy, engineering, financial, healthcare, technology, and digital marketing sectors. Planet strengthens the employer-employee dynamic by connecting clients with talent, which ultimately creates enduring, valuable relationships.
MidOcean is a longtime investor in the outsourced human capital industry. Prior investments include System One, a leading provider of staffing and outsourced services in the engineering, scientific, communications, technology, and legal areas that MidOcean exited in October 2016, and Global Knowledge, a world class provider of IT training to corporate clients that MidOcean exited in January 2015. Within the human capital space, MidOcean focuses on markets with clear secular growth trends, such as pharmaceutical, information technology, engineering, and healthcare.
"We have really enjoyed the partnership with MidOcean, whose deep industry expertise and experience building successful human capital platforms have supported us during this period of significant expansion, both organically and through acquisitions," said Mike Stomberg, CEO of Planet. "As we enter the next phase of our growth strategy, we are thrilled to merge with ProPharma Group to create a dynamic, global platform with comprehensive service offerings to fulfill our clients' needs. We look forward to working together and our continued commitment to quality and excellence."
Elias Dokas, Managing Director at MidOcean, said, "Since we first invested in Planet in early 2018, the Company has realized exceptional growth - organically and through the completion of six add-on acquisitions - quadrupling EBITDA during this period. Planet has emerged as one the preeminent global providers of human capital services to the pharma, life sciences, and IT sectors. It has been a pleasure working with Mike Stomberg, Tim Bauwens, and the entire Planet team and we are highly confident that the Company is poised for continued growth with ProPharma and Odyssey Investment Partners."
Nishen Radia, B. Riley's Co-Head of M&A, commented, "We are thrilled to have worked with the Planet and MidOcean teams on this transaction. Their partnership was a match made in heaven and shows the importance of finding the right counterpart when transacting with private equity. This combination with ProPharma is extremely exciting and with Odyssey's support, the future is bright for the merged entity."
About MidOcean Partners
MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle market private equity and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has targeted investments in high-quality middle market companies in the business services and consumer sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and manages a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations, and customized separately managed accounts. For more information, visit www.midoceanpartners.com.
About The Planet Group
The Planet Group consists of nine related entities, including four global consulting organizations and five renowned staffing brands and has been purposefully built to address the professional services needs of leading companies in the life sciences, technology, diversified energy and engineering, accounting and finance, human resources, healthcare, and digital marketing areas. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices throughout the U.S. and Europe. Learn more at www.theplanetgroup.com.
About ProPharma Group
ProPharma Group is the leading global, independent, single-source provider of outsourced regulatory, compliance, pharmacovigilance, and medical information services serving pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies. Founded in 2001, ProPharma Group has more than 1,300 colleagues worldwide providing a comprehensive portfolio of regulatory and compliance solutions to help solve complex challenges in a dynamic regulatory environment. With the mission to improve the health and safety of patients, ProPharma Group is focused on delivering the highest quality of services throughout the full product lifecycle. For more information, please visit www.propharmagroup.com.
About Odyssey Investment Partners
Odyssey Investment Partners, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is a leading private equity investment firm with a more than 25-year history of partnering with skilled managers to transform middle market companies into more efficient and diversified businesses with strong growth profiles. Odyssey makes majority-controlled investments in industries with a long-term positive outlook and favorable secular trends. For further information about Odyssey, please visit www.odysseyinvestment.com.
About FocalPoint Partners
B. Riley Securities is a leading investment bank that provides a full suite of investment banking, corporate finance, advisory, research, and sales and trading services. Investment banking services include initial, secondary, and follow-on offerings, institutional private placements, merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory, SPACs, corporate restructuring, and recapitalization. The firm is nationally recognized and highly ranked for its proprietary small-cap equity research. B. Riley Securities is a wholly owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial. For more information, visit brileysecurities.com.
Please contact Nishen Radia at 310-405-7040 with any questions regarding this transaction.