InVentiv Health announced a pair of big acquisitions as a leading private equity investor took the helm of the holding company.
InVentiv named executive chairman Paul Meister to replace Blane Walter as CEO while Walter stepped back, taking the title vice chairman.
The company also announced its acquisitions of management consulting firm Campbell Alliance and contract research organization i3. InVentiv paid around $400 million for the i3 business. Terms of the much smaller Campbell Alliance deal were not disclosed.
Meister is founder and CEO of Liberty Lane Partners, LLC, which is part of the investment group that acquired inVentiv in August. He served in executive roles at Fisher Scientific from 1991 to 2006, including chairman of the board for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and vice chairman of Fisher Scientific International.
Walter founded advertising and marketing services conglomerate inChord, which merged with contract sales firm Ventiv in 2005.
“Blane’s vision has led inVentiv to become one of the top service providers in the healthcare industry,” said Meister in a statement. “We are now well-positioned to grow our leadership position and are very pleased that Blane will continue to provide strategic counsel as vice chairman of our board.”
With the Campbell Alliance and i3 acquisitions, the company is reorganizing into three self-standing divisions—clinical, consulting and commercial. The clinical segment will include i3 and inVentiv’s inVentiv Clinical Solutions, MedFocus and Smith Hanley. Consulting will consist of Campbell Alliance, which will incorporate inVentiv’s Advance Insights business. Commercial will house inVentiv Health’s communications, selling solutions, selling accelerators and patient outcomes businesses, all operating under the inVentiv Health umbrella. That division, the holding company’s largest, is worth around $900 million in annual revenue.
From the March 01, 2011 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
