William Blair, the independent investment firm, has run the auction of Pharma Bio-Research, the Dutch clinical trials manager that Hg Capital acquired for €90m ($94m), further securing its place in the European market.

Hg Capital, the mid-market buy-out firm that bought its own independence from Merrill Lynch in late 2000, used €50m of debt from Bank of Ireland to help finance the acquisition. This is one of the first debt financings to be led by the Bank of Ireland's London office, which was established two years ago.