5th February 2015
Galway Healthcare Company Lifes2good receives €5M to drive further international expansion
50 Jobs to be created over 3 years
5th February 2015
The BDO Development Capital Fund today announced its second investment since the launch of the €75million fund by the Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton in March last year. The BDO Development Capital Fund is supported by the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland, as part of the Development Capital Scheme.
The Fund managed by Development Capital, a 100% subsidiary of BDO, has invested €5 million in the Lifes2good Group, one of Ireland’s fastest growing Healthcare companies. The investment will enable Lifes2good further international expansion and will lead to the creation of 50 additional high skilled jobs in its Global Headquarters in Galway and across the group over the next 3 years. The BDO Development Capital Fund provides development and growth capital for established, mid-sized and profitable companies to assist them to achieve and accelerate their export-led growth plans.
The Lifes2Good Group was founded in 1997 by James Murphy and is an international, sales, marketing and distribution Group of category leading and clinically proven healthcare brands in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. Lifes2Good has been supported in its growth and development by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through Enterprise Ireland.
Announcing the Fund’s second investment, Sinead Heaney, Managing Director of The BDO Development Capital Fund said:
“The BDO Development Capital Fund is delighted to announce details of this investment. Lifes2Good is exactly type of Company that the BDO Development Capital Fund was set up to support. It is a high growth indigenous company with a proven and ambitious management team with significant export market growth opportunities.”
Welcoming the announcement today, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD said:
“As we have repeatedly stated, at the heart of our jobs plan is creating a powerful engine of Irish enterprise. Making sure that ambitious and innovative Irish companies have access to the sources of credit necessary to grow their business, expand exports and increase jobs is a key part of this. Over the past three years we have established new finance schemes which are making available a total of well over €2 billion to Irish businesses, and the BDO €75million Development Capital Fund forms part of this. Today’s announcement of its investment in Lifes2Good and the creation of 50 new jobs by this company is a welcome boost that shows the concrete benefits of this scheme. Lifes2Good is a highly successful company which will now go on to grow faster and create more jobs in a regional location. I am delighted to welcome this announcement today and wish the company continued success”.
Andrew Bourg, Investment Director of The BDO Development Capital Fund who has joined the Board of Lifes2Good commented:
“Lifes2Good is an excellent example of an Irish company that has grown by winning business on an international stage. Throughout our dealings with Lifes2Good, we have been hugely impressed by James and the management team’s ambition and track record. I am delighted to be joining the Board and I look forward to working with and supporting James and the team exploit and maximise Lifes2Good’s international growth opportunities.”
Lifes2Good Founder James Murphy commented:
“I am extremely excited about what Lifes2good can achieve with this investment. We have hugely ambitious expansion plans and we are now positioned to implement them. We can also now tap into the expertise that comes with The BDO Development Capital Fund and the support of both the Fund’s advisory panel members. The BDO Development Capital team have a wealth of experience in supporting growing businesses such as ours and this along with the international reach of their Corporate Partners was a key factor for Lifes2good.
Today’s announcement provides us with the investment needed to grow our current significant US and UK business, position other markets for accelerated growth and support new product and brand development through innovation and acquisition. We are a results driven organization, which prides itself on taking niche products in the healthcare space to the global retailer and consumer”.
ENDS
For further information
For BDO Development Capital Fund:
Kevin Reid
Tel: 087-9174440/ E-mail: kreid@bdo.ie
For Lifes2Good:
Rachel Dalton (Rachel Dalton Communications)
Tel: 01 678 7990
Press Office, Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, 01-6312200, press.office@djei.ie
About the BDO Development Capital Fund & Development Capital Limited
The BDO Development Capital Fund is a €75 million Fund aimed at investing development and growth capital in established, mid-sized and profitable companies to support and accelerate their export growth plans. The fund is managed by Development Capital, a 100% subsidiary of BDO.
Development Capital has created a unique and unprecedented smart funding model centred on a partnership approach that, in addition to substantial capital, will give the selected companies access to advice and international contacts from a range of large Irish corporate and senior business executives. The corporate partners to the fund include Bank of Ireland, CRH plc, Glanbia plc and Glen Dimplex. The fund will be invested, over a period of three years, in approximately 15 companies. The Fund will invest between €2million and €10million for an investment term of five years.
BDO Smart Funding Model and Advisory Board
Led by Investment Directors Sinead Heaney and Andrew Bourg, the team at Development Capital have developed a unique Smart Funding Model for the BDO Development Capital Fund that combines capital with access to, both corporate and executive experience as well as international contacts. The fund capital sources include Enterprise Ireland, Bank of Ireland, CRH plc, Glanbia plc and Glen Dimplex.
This unique approach combines to create a broad and deep bank of international business experience for investee companies to draw upon. In addition to the Corporate Partners who have committed both funding and expertise to assist investee companies, the investee companies have access to proven industry experts who have created, grown and developed Irish Companies into international success stories comprising: Denis Brosnan (former CEO of Kerry Foods), Alan Crosbie (Former Chairman Irish Examiner and family business expert), Dr. Noel Kelly (former Executive Director of Kentz), Dr Jim Mountjoy (founder of Euristix) and Helen Ryan (former CEO Creganna Tactx Medical). The Development Capital Investment Directors are supported by an Investment Committee chaired by Eoin O’Driscoll (Chairman of SWS).
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