Uniphar acquires specialist sales firm OUTiCO

Pharmaceutical and healthcare services group Uniphar has purchased Bath, UK-based OUTiCO as part of its drive to “provide a fully integrated suite of outsourced activities”.

The multichannel account management and consultancy services firm, which has an annual turnover in excess of €1.3bn, will operate as an independent company within Uniphar’s manufacturer services division.

Padraic Dempsey, Uniphar’s manufacturer services’ managing director, said: “The successful acquisition of Star in 2015 enabled us to deliver talented people for outsourced teams and headcount opportunities.

“OUTiCO brings together the expertise of an ever-expanding team of experienced sales and marketing professionals, industry-leading customer preference data, and digital communication channels.”

The deal will see OUTiCO continue under the leadership of founders Paul Black and Mike Cooper.

Cooper said: “Multichannel account management and OUTiCO have experienced phenomenal growth over the past four years, but we knew we needed a partner with scale and diversity to realise multichannel account management’s enormous potential.

“Significantly for us, the cultural and entrepreneurial synergy between ourselves, Uniphar and Star makes this a natural fit.”

Uniphar acquired pharmaceutical and medical resourcing firm Star, which is also based in Bath, in 2015.