Paragon Partners Sells Primed Group to Inflexion

Munich/Halberstadt/London (UK) – Infle­xion, a leading Euro­pean private equity firm focu­sed on mid-market compa­nies, has agreed to acquire the Primed Group (“Primed”). Primed is a German specialty provi­der of high-quality medi­cal consu­ma­bles and steri­liza­tion services. The seller is Para­gon Part­ners, a private equity firm focu­sed on the DACH region. The invest­ment is being made through the Infle­xion Buyout Fund VI and marks Inflexion’s sixth invest­ment in the DACH region. 

Primed was foun­ded in 1946 and is head­quar­te­red in Halber­stadt. The company deve­lops, manu­fac­tures, and distri­bu­tes certi­fied single-use medi­cal supplies. Primed employs more than 450 people and opera­tes a verti­cally inte­gra­ted plat­form that covers the entire value chain—from the proces­sing of raw mate­ri­als to the sterile end product. The products, certi­fied in accordance with the Euro­pean Medi­cal Device Regu­la­tion (MDR), are used in hospi­tals and health­care faci­li­ties in over 70 count­ries. Primed also opera­tes HA2, one of Europe’s largest plat­forms for medi­cal sterilization. 

The global market for medi­cal consu­ma­bles is large and conti­nues to grow. For Primed, this provi­des a strong foun­da­tion for further expan­sion in Germany and inter­na­tio­nally. With Infle­xion as its new owner, Primed will conti­nue to invest in its core product line, acce­le­rate product deve­lo­p­ment, and expand its steri­liza­tion busi­ness. Infle­xion will also support manage­ment in its inter­na­tio­nal expansion—through targe­ted acqui­si­ti­ons and invest­ments in commer­cial capa­bi­li­ties to streng­then Primed’s direct access to custo­mers in key markets. The invest­ment unders­cores Inflexion’s commit­ment to part­ne­ring with leading health­care compa­nies in their local markets and support­ing their long-term success. 

For this tran­sac­tion, Infle­xion is colla­bo­ra­ting with health­care experts Wolf­gang Süßle and Justin Barnes; both will serve on Primed’s Board of Direc­tors. Wolf­gang Süßle has more than 25 years of expe­ri­ence in the health­care indus­try, inclu­ding 15 years as CEO and Presi­dent of Lohmann & Rauscher. Justin Barnes brings more than 25 years of expe­ri­ence in the medi­cal tech­no­logy sector. He has co-foun­­ded seve­ral compa­nies and held execu­tive posi­ti­ons, inclu­ding as CEO of 30 Tech­no­logy and as a non-execu­­tive direc­tor of Rayner. Toge­ther, they bring comple­men­tary exper­tise and a proven track record of growing health­care compa­nies to imple­ment Primed’s growth strategy. 

For Infle­xion, Primed is its third invest­ment in the health­care sector in the DACH region, follo­wing its mino­rity stake in Prote­ros and its invest­ment in Tier­arzt Plus Part­ner. Over­all, it is Inflexion’s sixth invest­ment in the DACH region. The acqui­si­tion further streng­thens Inflexion’s presence in the DACH region and follows the foun­ding of Mittel­­stands-Asse­­ku­ranz-Part­­ner (“MAP”), the carve-out of Finanzen.net, and the invest­ment in dss+. 

Flor Kassai, Mana­ging Part­ner and Head of Buyouts at Infle­xion, said: “Primed enjoys an excel­lent repu­ta­tion thanks to its high-quality product port­fo­lio, its inte­gra­ted busi­ness model, and its long-stan­­ding custo­mer rela­ti­onships. We look forward to support­ing the team as the company enters its next phase of growth.”

Martin Preuss, Part­ner and Head of DACH, said: “Primed is an excel­lent exam­ple of the inno­va­tive, inter­na­tio­nally compe­ti­tive compa­nies we seek to part­ner with in Germany. We look forward to support­ing the manage­ment team as they build on the company’s strong foun­da­tion in Germany and conti­nue to expand internationally.”

Daniel Schiel, CEO of the Primed Group, said: “We are very plea­sed to have Infle­xion as our new part­ner. Infle­xion shares our long-term vision for Primed and brings signi­fi­cant expe­ri­ence in support­ing ambi­tious compa­nies through their next phase of growth. Toge­ther, we aim to build on Primed’s strong German roots, conti­nue to expand inter­na­tio­nally, invest in inno­va­tion, and relia­bly supply hospi­tals and health­care faci­li­ties world­wide with high-quality products.”

Edin Hadzic, Senior Part­ner at Para­gon, said: “As Primed’s first insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tor, we supported the company’s evolu­tion from an owner-led to a mana­ge­­ment-led orga­niza­tion and estab­lished it as a true growth plat­form. We are proud of what the team has built and wish Primed contin­ued success in its next phase with Inflexion.”

The tran­sac­tion is subject to the usual regu­la­tory approvals.

About Infle­xion

Infle­xion is a leading Euro­pean private equity firm focu­sed on mid-market compa­nies, with €20 billion in assets under manage­ment. It invests in fast-growing, entre­pre­neu­rial compa­nies led by ambi­tious manage­ment teams and works in part­ner­ship with them to acce­le­rate their growth. Inflexion’s flexi­ble approach allows for both majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments in compa­nies with an enter­prise value typi­cally ranging from €50 million to over €1 billion. 

With specia­li­zed teams and dedi­ca­ted capi­tal, Inflexion’s funds invest in six core sectors from offices in London, Manches­ter, Amster­dam, Frank­furt, Stock­holm, and New York. Every port­fo­lio company, regard­less of size or equity stake, recei­ves full access to Inflexion’s growth acce­le­ra­tion services in the areas of inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion, acqui­si­ti­ons, digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion, talent manage­ment, sales, and sustaina­bi­lity. In addi­tion, port­fo­lio compa­nies bene­fit from inter­na­tio­nal experts in South America, the Asia-Paci­­fic (APAC) region, and India who are dedi­ca­ted to port­fo­lio deve­lo­p­ment and provide them with privi­le­ged access to these high-growth markets. 

Learn more at www.inflexion.com