VIDEO: Thomas H. Lee’s Scott Sperling Sees Opportunities In Business Services, China

Scott Sperling, co-president of Boston-based buyout shop Thomas H. Lee Partners, this week said he sees continuing opportunities to buy companies providing services to other businesses. “That’s one of the major thrusts we still see out there,” he said.

Speaking Tuesday at the Buyouts New York conference, where he was interviewed as part of a “Newsmakers of the Year” program by Reuters journalists Felix Salmon and Chrystia Freeland, Sperling seemed particularly excited by the firm’s purchase last year of inVentiv Health Inc. for less than 7.5x EBITDA. The company provides clinical trial and other services to pharmaceutical companies.

Sperling described the deal as “very complex”–just the kind of transaction Thomas H. Lee favors to keep rival bidders at bay. The firm, which plans to help inVentiv Health expand through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, announced this January two add-on acquisitions, that of Campbell Alliance and i3. For more on Sperling’s views on business services, China and deal pricing, click below.