Permira, the global private equity firm, has today announced that Philippe Houssiau has joined as a Senior Adviser, focusing on healthcare.
Philippe brings over 25 years of experience in healthcare, consulting and technology with a successful track record in international executive leadership, previously as PwC Partner and CEO at Agfa Healthcare where he led Agfa’s transition to a digital, hardware and service model and at Alliance Medical, the European leader in privately delivered radiology services. He was also the former Chairman of 4ways, a leader in European teleradiology, has held senior roles at DXC Technology, formerly HP’s Enterprise Services business focused on acute care, and has been an Operating Partner at HgCapital where he was instrumental in the acquisition and formation of Lyniate, a world leading healthcare interoperability software player.
Philippe has been at the forefront of technology enabled healthcare solutions during the past decade, including classic MedTech and companies providing differentiated software solutions to healthcare end-markets. He has also founded and invested in multiple health, technology and life science businesses.
Philippe currently serves as Non-Executive Chairman of Althea Group, the leading European vendor-independent provider of healthcare technology management and a Permira funds’ portfolio company, and in a leadership role with MAK System, an innovative global provider of software services for the management of blood and cellular products. Philippe holds dual Bachelor degrees in Pharmaceutical Sciences and in Chemical and Biotechnology Engineering from Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
The Permira funds have completed several successful investments in the healthcare sector and have deployed around €3.5bn in the sector to date. The funds most recently acquired Neuraxpharm, a leading European specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of the central nervous system (CNS). Prior to that, the Permira funds acquired Cambrex in 2019, a leading pharma CDMO, Quotient Sciences in the same year, a provider of specialist drug development services and LSNE, a contract development and manufacturing organisation specialising in sterile lyophilisation and fill & finish. Other funds’ portfolio companies in the sector include Althea, Corin, a tech enabled orthopaedic implant company and I-Med, a leading network of radiology clinics in Australia.
Silvia Oteri, Partner and Head of Healthcare at Permira, says: “Philippe’s knowledge, expertise and network which intersect both healthcare and technology will support our healthcare investing efforts, particularly our increased focus in the healthcare technology space. We will benefit greatly from his experience as we build on our success of investing behind advanced technologies within traditional areas of healthcare, including robotics at Corin and artificial intelligence at I-Med.”
Philippe Houssiau added: “I’m delighted to be joining Permira at this exciting time for the firm. The team has built a strong track record of investing across the healthcare sector and I look forward to helping source and develop interesting proprietary investment opportunities globally, as well as supporting the Permira Healthcare portfolio companies in their strategic initiatives.”
