Anvil Partners advised the management team which completed a buy-in/buy-out of Clinovia Limited in September 1998. Clinovia is the largest provider of drugs and artificial feeds to patients on complex medical treatments living at home in the UK. The equity was provided by Graphite Capital, the management and Anvil Partners. Bank of Scotland provided the acquisition finance and working capital facilities. Fresenius AG had previously agreed to buy the business but the transaction was blocked by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission. The purchase was completed in three months. The purchase price was £7.2 million and, deducting the cash left in the business, the enterprise cost was £4.6 million.

At the time of acquisition, Clinova's profits were £1.0 million. Management made immediate cost savings,cutting staff costs by over 20% resulting in an increase in profits to £2.6 million. With the increased profits and tighter management of working capital, the business started to generate significant cashflow which was used to make early repayments of the acquisition debt and most of the equity. Clinovia was sold to LVL Medicale of France in July 2000 for £26.3 million.

Value was generated from the following sources:

• Earnings increased from £1 million to £2.6 million.
• Cash flow was £5 million.
• The exit multiple was 10 times earnings compared to the entry multiple of 4.6 times.
• These factors produced a total value gain of £26.3 million in just 22 months.