Xendo

Founded in 1990, Xendo provided regulatory affairs compliance, validation and pharmacovigilance consulting and outsourced services to life sciences companies throughout the life cycle of their products. Xendo focused on the complex regulatory compliance requirements of its customers, and offered combined compliance and efficiency solutions, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

The founding shareholders of Xendo, having not been involved in the day-to-day running of the business for several years, had decided to sell. In tandem, the management team wanted to continue to develop the business in this rapidly evolving market.

Sovereign was able to deliver a transaction which met the wishes of the shareholders and the aspirations of the management team, supporting Xendo in the next stage of its development via a strategy of organic and acquisitive growth.

Strategic acquisition of Sofus to bring complementary services and expand geographic reach

Enhanced the management team with the appointments of Graham Love, Chairman, Ben Cons, NED and Arjen Huijs, CFO

In 2018, Sovereign was approached by its long-standing contacts at ProPharma Group, a US-headquartered medical information, pharmacovigilance and consulting business looking to expand in Europe through the acquisition of Xendo.

By exit, Xendo had already grown from three countries in Europe (the UK, Netherlands and Germany) and Japan to the broader Nordics through a takeover of Sweden-based regulatory affairs consultancy Sofus, which brought complementary services and geographic reach.

The new management team had bedded in well and, with Sovereign's support, significant investment was made in the company’s operational efficiency which included utilising 'Argus', the market-leading software in pharmacovigilance. Xendo's team of consultants had grown to to a team of over 240 consultants.