Penn Pharmaceutical Services, which produces named patient products among its range of outsourced services, was purchased for £67 million.

Penn Pharmaceutical Services’ chief executive Peter George led the buy-out .

The company was sold by its chairman Craig Rennie and Gresham Private Equity after George’s team secured the backing of LDC, the venture capital arm of Lloyds TSB. The bank invested £33 million in the deal for an undisclosed but ‘significant’ majority stake. Debt was provided by HSBC.

Under the terms of the deal, LDC directors Steve Carle and Candida Morley have joined Penn with investment manager Richard Stewart becoming an observer to the board. Mark Molyneux, former managing partner at Ernst & Young, has been appointed non-executive chairman.

Penn has more than 200 employees operating from a 323,000 sq ft site in Tredegar, Gwent and generates £16 million a year by providing contract manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry.