Lucid Group eyes global expansion with new ICG investment

The Lucid Group has secured new investment from Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) to support its ambitions to be a global business.

The healthcare communications group, which already has offices in the UK, US and Asia and currently employs around 250 people, said the deal would support further expansion across geographies - particularly in the US, and also help it acquire and build new capabilities.

Lucid Group CEO Dennis O’Brien said: “This marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Lucid, which drives increased investment to help us realise our vision of transforming lives. We have a tremendous team and a great client base, our goal is to continue to strengthen this by bringing new capabilities and more value to our partnerships.

“With ICG we feel we have the perfect partner who shares our vision and matches our level of ambition to transform the value we bring to our industry and to patients. ICG are deeply committed to investing in this sector and are perfectly positioned to help bring the best capabilities to our business and support us to further internationalise.”

Peter Kirtley, ICG's managing director, added: “ICG is a leading global alternative asset manager, with a long and successful track record of providing capital to support founder-led growing businesses like Lucid Group. We have admired Lucid Group and its reputation within the industry for many years. Through our partnership, together, we can leverage Lucid’s ambition and our sector expertise to build a truly global healthcare communications organisation.”

The deal comes alongside the exit of Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm LDC, which made a minority £11 million investment in the healthcare communications group in 2017. During that time Lucid acquired HealthCare21 and Bluedog to strengthen its digital, creative and scientific offering.