A MANAGEMENT team has bought out its fast-growing pharmaceutical firm in a deal worth more than £32m.

The buyout of Quantum Specials, one of the UK’s largest suppliers of tailor-made medicines to the pharmaceutical industry, comes as the company is forecast to generate sales of £22m this year.

Company founders Ian Edge and Alison Norman have bought out fellow founders Andrew Patterson and Phil Richardson, as well as Phoenix Medical Supplies, which bought a 30 per cent stake in the company in 2005.

Mr Edge and Ms Norman have been joined in the buyout by new management team member Andrew Scaife Quantum Specials was set up in September 2004 by the four former managers from Unichem-owned Eldon Laboratories.

The company, based in Burnopfield, County Durham, employs 145 people and produces “specials” – bespoke drug formulations which are not readily available from drug manufacturers.

It supplies wholesalers, pharmacies, chemists, dispensing doctors, hospitals and veterinary surgeries across the UK.

The managers have invested their own money, and further funding has come from private equity company Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC), which invested £14m, and Yorkshire Bank Corporate and Structured Finance, which provided an £18.5m package of senior debt and working capital facilities.

Mr Edge said: “We have grown 100 per cent in the past 12 months and Andy Patterson was looking for retirement, so it was an opportunity for us to become independent again.

It was the right opportunity at the right time.”

Mr Edge added: “After nearly five years of rapid growth, this deal comes at a crucial time in our development and will bring on board the expertise and financial backing we need to take the business forward.

“The buyout will help us further enhance our customer service levels, something which has been the bedrock of our success.

“It also provides us with a strategic investor with whom we can work closely to explore new routes to market.

“With a strong track record of investing in the pharmaceutical industry, LDC has demonstrated a clear appreciation of our sector.”

John Swarbrick, director at LDC, who will take a seat on the company’s board, said: “In a relatively short space of time, Quantum Specials has built a strong company based on a superb quality of service and outstanding customer relationships.”

The business has developed a service which enables a 24-hour turnaround from the initial pharmacist’s order, through to manufacture, and eventual delivery to the patient.