Private equity group CVC Capital Partners has bought stakes in two UK-based companies whose software underpins the NHS’s coronavirus vaccine rollout, as it seeks to capitalise on Britain’s inoculation success in order to sell the technology to other countries. The Luxembourg-based buyouts group has bought a majority stake in System C and a minority stake in its partner company, Graphnet Health. Together they run the IT system that the NHS uses to invite people for coronavirus vaccines and track who has received the jabs.
The CVC deal is relatively small in financial terms, valuing the companies together at significantly less than £500m, according to people familiar with the matter. But the buyout group hopes the businesses will grow quickly through international sales of the technology that has played a role in one of the world’s fastest coronavirus vaccination programmes, the people said.
System C made £1.7m in pre-tax profits in the year to March 2019, according to its most recent published accounts. Graphnet, based in Milton Keynes, made £500,000 of pre-tax profits in the same period. A spokeswoman for System C and Graphnet said it was “pleased” about CVC’s investment. CVC declined to comment.
Source: Financial Times
By Kaye Wiggins
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