The credit facilities provide follow-on financing capacity for the group to continue executing its international expansion strategy.

ProductLife Group (“PLG”) is a global expert in Regulatory Affairs and Product Compliance consulting and outsourcing services for the healthcare industry. PLG secured a position as the Life Sciences Industry’s reference strategic partner by offering end-to-end specialist services, covering the whole pharmaceutical product lifecycle, and combining local expertise with global reach spanning more than 150 countries. PLG has 1,600 employees, servicing 1,000 clients including 7 of the top 10 pharma.

“We have been impressed by PLG’s transformation under 21 Invest’s ownership and its management team led by Xavier Duburcq. Since we refinanced PLG in 2022, the group posted double-digit organic growth and established itself as a global market consolidator.” commented, Antoine Gosselin-Mercury, Director, Global Private Credit at Barings, “Barings deeply values our relationships with 21 Invest and Oakley Capital, and we look forward to supporting PLG’s next stage of growth under this new joint ownership. We are delighted to partner with them and the management team on PLG’s journey to becoming a global leader.”

Commenting, Fabrice Voituron, Managing Partner at 21 Invest, said: “Barings’ flexible financing solution – which included a portability feature – has been instrumental in accelerating PLG’s development. Since the refinancing, the group completed 10 bolt-on acquisitions, including via successive incremental facilities, while the portability secured the attractive financing terms at which we are today welcoming Oakley Capital alongside our newly established continuation fund.”

This transaction expands Barings’ $32.78 billion* Global Private Finance platform, which leverages a deep bench of more than 80 investment professionals ​and a 30-year track record of providing financing solutions to sponsors while generating attractive ​risk-adjusted returns for investors.

About Barings
Barings is a $406+ billion* global asset management firm that partners with institutional, insurance, and intermediary clients, and supports leading businesses with flexible financing solutions. The firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, seeks to deliver excess returns by leveraging its global scale and capabilities across public and private markets in fixed income, real assets and capital solutions.

*Assets under management as of March 31, 2024

About 21 Invest
Founded by Alessandro Benetton, the 21 Invest group has been an active and responsible shareholder alongside management teams for 32 years and has supported over 110 companies based in France, Italy and Poland through local funds. In France, the investment strategy focuses on companies combining growth and recurrence in 4 sectors: healthcare, technology/software, education and business services. 21 Invest supports the transformation of companies by providing its expertise in structuring and accelerating growth, particularly through market consolidation.

For more information, please visit www.21invest.com

About Oakley Capital
Oakley Capital is the partner of choice for entrepreneurs and management teams with the ambition to build successful, global businesses. With a diverse team of almost 200 professionals across five locations including London, Munich, Milan, and Madrid, Oakley Capital backs high-growth, mid-market companies across Europe. The fund has deep sector-expertise across Technology, Consumer, Education and Business Services, and a track-record of supporting businesses accelerate their growth with proven value creation strategies, including M&A, digitisation, talent management and internationalisation. Its unique origination capabilities help unearth attractive investment opportunities yielding consistently strong returns for all stakeholders. In 2023, Oakley raised a record €4.8 billion, including for Oakley Capital Fund V and Origin Fund II, bringing the total AuM to c.€11 billion.

For more information, please visit www.oakleycapital.com

Media Contacts
Barings@secnewgate.co.uk / Mediarelations@barings.com