Led by chief executive, Peter George, management has bought the business from exiting chairman Craig Rennie and institutional shareholders Gresham Trust. Under the terms of the deal, LDC has invested £33million for a significant majority stake in the business. Following the deal, management and LDC will be focused on a growth strategy that will increase manufacturing capacity, expand Penn’s international profile and maximise cross-selling opportunities within the business. Penn employs more than 200 people and operates from a 323,000 sq ft base in Tredegar, South Wales. It provides a variety of technically-demanding services to the pharmaceutical industry through three core divisions. Peter George, CEO of Penn, said: "The global pharmaceutical market has a strong pipeline of drugs in development, and outsourcing is a key and growing factor in its delivery to the market". "We have successfully built a company with the technical capabilities and resources required to provide the highest standard of service to clients and this deal gives us fresh impetus to drive further growth. Looking to the future, the new management team will focus on creating ongoing growth at Penn and continue to provide marketing leading services to our clients." "In LDC we have the backing of an investor which understands our approach to the market and will provide the financial and strategic input required to maximise the potential across all our core divisions." Mark Molyneux, former managing partner at Ernst & Young joins the board as non-executive chairman. Deloitte advised management on the deal and debt facilities were provided by HSBC. The £16million turnover company has increased the size of its order book by 30 per cent over the last 12 months and sales are set to reach nearly £25million over the next four years. Steve Carle, director at LDC, said: "The pharmaceutical outsourcing market for contract and research services is set to grow by 14 per cent a year over the next three years. "Penn is ideally placed to capitalise on this as it’s one of the few businesses capable of providing the high-quality, specialised services demanded by the sector. "We’ll be working alongside a highly skilled and motivated management team to implement a strategy which will open up new opportunities for expansion and build Penn’s presence in the market." Penn is a leading provider of outsourced pharmaceutical development services to the international healthcare industry and is one of five companies in the UK to offer research and development for new drugs. The company’s core business expertise includes a fully comprehensive product development service, which consists of formulation and analytical development, clinical trial manufacturing, packaging and supply management and extensive custom manufacturing capabilities. Penn also offers CMC Consultancy and Qualified Person (QP) Services. www.ldc.co.uk