The partnership between the two firms will help Irrimax expand its product range, markets and global reach.
Global private equity healthcare specialist ARCHIMED has acquired Irrimax Corporation (including its holding company, Innovation Technologies) for an undisclosed sum. Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Irrimax, founded in 2003, develops and markets Irrisept® Antimicrobial Wound Lavage, a market-leading solution within high performance wound irrigation.
The market for high performance surgical and post-surgical wound irrigation is expected to grow significantly in the medium term.
“With this transaction, we’re not only backing the company with the leading surgical wound irrigation products, we’re also partnering with an amazing management team.” says ARCHIMED partner Carlos Alonso. Alonso has over 35 years of operational experience in the global healthcare industry and notably built the international operations of diversified medical device manufacturer Hill-Rom into a $1 billion growth juggernaut through organic expansion and acquisition. Kent Davies will also join Irrimax’s board; Davies is the former President and COO of PDI, a medical device manufacturer focused on infection prevention. Kent Davies is part of ARCHIMED’s MedTalents®, a global network of associated senior healthcare executives and industry veterans who identify, facilitate and advise on deals, and counsel ARCHIMED’s companies.
Irrimax bridges two sectors – Surgery & Operating Consumables, and Wound Care – that ARCHIMED’s proprietary sector analysis tool, MedSeg, identifies as priority investment areas. MedSeg tracks and analyses over 430 sub-segments of the global healthcare industry.
“ARCHIMED’s experience in MedTech and their clear appreciation of the full potential of our products to scale is why we chose to partner with them. This is a high-efficiency combination when it comes to growth and expansion.”
Irrimax CEO Mark Alvarez, a MedTech industry veteran and leader, has led the Irrimax business since 2018 and is supported by best-in-class operations and management teams.
ARCHIMED was supported in this transaction by Foley & Lardner, LLP (legal advisor), Bain & Co. (strategic due diligence), and PwC (financial and tax advisor). Harris Williams LLC acted as transaction advisors to Irrimax, Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP as legal advisors to Irrimax, and King & Spalding (US) as legal advisors to Irrimax management.
ARCHIMED acquired Irrimax through its MED Platform II fund, which closed at €3.5 billion in June 2023, a record at the time for a buyout fund exclusively investing in healthcare industries, according to data from Preqin. The MED Platform funds partner with category leaders in the mid-cap global healthcare market. The funds provide platform companies with the strategic, tactical, and financial resources they need to accelerate innovation, grow capacity, broaden product lines, and expand into new regions, organically and through acquisitions.
Including Irrimax, MED Platform II is now invested in five platform companies: Instem, a leader in workflow and simulation software for drug development; Natus Neuro, a global leader in neuro-diagnostics, and the now separate Natus Sensory, a global leader in hearing & imbalance diagnostics (at the time of acquisition both were one company); and Plasmid Factory, a German developer of exceptionally high-grade plasmids (an efficient means to modify genes and cells to combat diseases). Formerly London Stock Exchange-listed Instem and formerly Nasdaq-listed Natus were take-private deals. All of MED Platform II’s investments represent first-time buyouts for the companies acquired and were sourced through ARCHIMED’s MedDiscover approach. MedDiscover is a set of tools, processes and systems allowing for identification and approach of leading companies operating in ARCHIMED’s prioritized sub-sectors.
In terms of returns, ARCHIMED is ranked as the world’s 6th best performing Buyout firm in the latest HEC-DowJones ranking (out of 632 Buyout firms globally). ARCHIMED’s performance is particularly strong with regard to cash-to-cash returns, with a constant flow of liquidity events and distributions since inception, including in the last two years when most players struggled to provide liquidity.