Grenadier Holdings was established in 1998 as the investment vehicle through which Patrick Crean and Conor Donnelly completed the £45 million acquisition of Moore Corporation’s European business forms and labels operations, then trading as Moore Paragon. 

Following the acquisition, the name “Moore” was dropped, and the business was renamed Paragon Group Limited, bringing together long-established operations, experienced management teams, and skilled employees under a renewed ownership structure.

The Paragon name, first used in 1886, was retained in recognition of the business’s long-standing identity and heritage.

During the following decade, Paragon Group focused on strengthening its core operations while navigating a period shaped by two major economic downturns: the early 2000s recession and, later, the global financial crisis and subsequent eurozone debt crisis.

Through the discipline of its leadership team, management teams, and employees across the UK and France, the business maintained steady growth and continued to build operational resilience.

During these years, the Group began to broaden its capabilities in areas such as e-commerce, digital platforms, and secure technologies. While this period was not defined by large-scale expansion, it established the operational, technological, and organisational foundations that would enable the significant acceleration in growth and diversification delivered from 2014 onwards.

In 2013, Conor Donnelly, Patrick Crean’s long-standing and trusted business partner, retired and transferred his equity in Paragon Group to Patrick, who became the principal shareholder.

This leadership transition marked an important turning point for the organisation. With full ownership and the support of the senior leadership team, Patrick established a clear long-term direction for the business, setting the ambition and strategic priorities that would shape the Group's next phase of growth.

In 2014, Patrick Crean formalised and communicated the 2020 Strategic Plan, reflecting his ambition to build the business into a €1 billion organisation.

Supported by the Group's leadership team, the plan established a disciplined framework for expansion, investment, and operational development, aligning the organisation behind a shared vision for long-term growth and value creation.

Following the launch of the 2020 Strategic Plan, which set clear targets of surpassing €1 billion in revenue and €75 million in underlying EBITDA, Paragon Group entered a period of significant growth through disciplined expansion, investment and acquisition. 

The Group strengthened its position across three divisions — Customer Communications, Identification, and Graphics — completing a substantial number of acquisitions and broadening its international footprint.

Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19 in 2020, Paragon Group achieved the major strategic objectives set out in the plan. From a 2013 baseline of €161 million in revenue and €6 million in underlying EBITDA:

• Sales grew by 572% to €1.081 billion.
• Underlying EBITDA increased by 1,183% to €77 million.

By exceeding both the €1 billion revenue target and the €75 million EBITDA target, Paragon Group firmly established itself as one of Europe’s leading privately owned business-services organisations.

Paragon ID was established as a standalone business following the separation of Paragon Group’s Identification division and its merger with ASK.

The creation of Paragon ID brought together specialist technology, management expertise, and operational capability, positioning the business as a leading European identification solutions platform focused on e-ID, smart cities, and connected technologies.

Paragon Group entered the packaging sector in 2020 with the acquisition of Trenton, broadening its capabilities beyond communications, identification, and graphics.

The acquisition marked the Group’s first move into packaging and the beginning of a dedicated packaging capability within the business, creating a platform for further investment, integration, and specialist growth in the sector.

With Paragon Group having reached significant scale and international complexity, Patrick and the founding leadership team took a deliberate, long-term view, planning decisively for the next 20–30 years to safeguard the future of the business, strengthen organisational resilience, and support sustainable growth.

In March 2021, recognising both the challenges highlighted by COVID-19 and the importance of long-term stability, Patrick transferred his ownership into a family trust and established Grenadier Holdings as a dedicated family office structure.

This strategic evolution placed the trading entities under the stewardship of a family trust, ensuring long-term continuity while empowering each investment company’s leadership team with greater autonomy. 

The transition fostered a culture of ambition, accountability, and focused growth, enabling each company to operate independently, supported by the long-term perspective and disciplined oversight of a strong family office. It marked a decisive shift from a single operating group into a diversified portfolio of investment companies, designed to create enduring value across generations.

Following Grenadier Holdings’ transition into a family office, the focus shifted towards embedding the new structure across the portfolio and supporting the transition from a single operating group to a diversified portfolio of investment companies.

During this period, Grenadier Holdings worked closely with leadership teams to strengthen governance, support strategic decision-making, and ensure each investment company was positioned for long-term success. At the same time, the businesses continued to pursue their own growth strategies, operating independently while benefiting from the stewardship and long-term perspective of the family office.

By 2025, the transition was firmly established, with Grenadier Holdings providing strategic guidance and oversight across a portfolio of international investment companies, each operating with its own leadership team and clear growth ambitions.

Today, Grenadier Holdings oversees a diversified portfolio of international investment companies, each operating independently under its own leadership team.

What began in 1998 as a single acquisition has evolved into a long-term investment platform supporting businesses across multiple sectors, markets, and geographies. Through decades of growth, acquisition, and transformation, the organisation has continually adapted while remaining focused on building resilient, high-quality businesses.

Grenadier Holdings provides the strategic guidance, governance, and investment support that enables its portfolio companies to grow with confidence, while preserving the entrepreneurial spirit and operational independence that drive their success.

With a long-term perspective and a commitment to responsible ownership, Grenadier Holdings continues to invest in people, businesses, and opportunities that create enduring value.