IDH (now {my}dentist) agrees to sell DD Group
Palamon Capital Partners (“Palamon” or the “Firm”) and IDH Group (“IDH” or the “Group”) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a binding agreement to sell DD Group (“DD” or the “Company”), formerly branded Dental Directory, the UK and Ireland’s number one dental and medical aesthetics distributor and service provider, to an affiliate of Sun European Partners, LLP. The terms of the private transaction, which is expected to complete in June, were not disclosed.
The sale concludes phase one of Palamon’s investment plan to return IDH to a pure-play dental services company, following the Firm’s reported £700 million deal, in partnership with the management team of IDH, to acquire The Carlyle Group’s majority position in August 2021. The proceeds from the divestment will significantly deleverage the business and provide substantial cash to support deeper investment into the existing network of clinics and M&A. Management plan to continue their focus on building better dentistry services for both NHS customers and those seeking affordable private treatments.
DD has rapidly accelerated growth over the past three years under the leadership of CEO Paul Adams, achieving revenue CAGRs of 16%, to generate £210 million of revenue LTM to March 2022. This impressive growth track has been underpinned by rapidly growing demand for dentistry and aesthetic treatments, with DD leveraging its unmatched one-stop-shop customer proposition to take increasing share within the highly fragmented market. Today, DD is the only integrated distribution and demand creation platform for product and services to both dental and medical aesthetics customers. This gives customers access to 30,000+ dental and medical aesthetics products, prescription medicines, equipment and technology alongside mission critical dental engineering and compliance support services.
Tom Riall, CEO of IDH, said: “DD is an outstanding business with a strong track-record, a committed management team, and a clear plan to build on the success of the last few years. As well as being great news for DD, this sale will also provide {my}dentist with fresh investment to accelerate our growth plans, ensuring more patients get access to the affordable care they need, and helping us deliver on our ambition of being the best place to work in UK dentistry for all of our clinicians and practice teams. I look forward to continuing to work with DD as our trusted supplier in the future.”
Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, Partner at Palamon, said, “We are delighted with the progress of our new partnership with IDH, which goes from strength to strength. Our thanks go to Paul Adams and the management team of DD for their incredible work to institutionalise and diversify the business, establishing it as a national leader in healthcare distribution services and allowing us to accelerate our divestment plans. The sales process, which was expertly managed by DC Advisory, generated an outstanding outcome which will both significantly deleverage the business and provide substantial cash for growth.”
Paul Adams, CEO of DD, said: “We have ambitious plans at DD to consolidate our position as the leading provider of dental and medical aesthetics products and services in the UK and Ireland. This deal will help us to realise those plans, becoming the first choice across both sectors for clinical treatment solutions. Under this new ownership, we will have the financing and operational independence to continue expanding, support a growing number of customers, and pursue new markets across the UK, Ireland and beyond.”
IDH Group is the largest dental provider in the UK, offering dental treatments to more than four million patients every year through its network of almost 600 dental practices operating under its consumer brand {my}dentist. Following the transaction IDH will trade exclusively under the {my}dentist brand and will remain a customer of DD under long-term supply arrangements for dental products, equipment and engineering services.
