Private equity firm ArchiMed has sold Italian dental services chain Primo Group, generating a 3x return on its investment and a 36% IRR. The business has been sold to a Milan-based private equity firm. Primo was founded in 2010, two years after Italy’s government deregulated the country’s dental market and authorised the creation of dental clinic chains. ArchiMed partnered with Primo’s founder and CEO Mirko Puccio to lead the buyout of the firm in July 2015. Under ArchiMed’s ownership, Primo grew its revenues by 36% a year and significantly increased its profits. During this time the business increased the number of its directly owned dental clinics from 15 to 50 and expanded its staff from 80 to 200. Mirko Puccio, Founder and CEO of Primo, said: “In addition to offering the financing we needed to expand in Italy’s fragmented dental sector, ArchiMed helped us recruit a top-tier board and gave us strategic insight and management support at absolutely critical moments. By teaming up with such experienced health care professionals, we were able to grow and improve the quality of our services without losing focus or time.” Vincent Guillaumot, Partner at ArchiMed, added: “Primo is a typical ArchiMed story where we supported the company’s growth and built up its competitive edge through a combination of innovative strategic and financial support.”
