AN IRISH firm that makes breast implants and is backed by businessman Bill McCabe secured a €21.5m investment from US private equity firm Montreux Equity Partners last week.

GC Aesthetics was set up by McCabe, the founder of technology companies Riverdeep and Smartforce, in 2008. It owns the silicone breast implant firms Eurosilicone and Biosil-Nagor.

According to accounts filed by GC Aesthetics in April, it was in breach of some of its banking covenants and was seeking investors to refinance its loans and provide it with cash for expansion.

Dan Turner, Montreux's managing director, will join the board of GC Aesthetics as chairman. It isn't known whether McCabe will remain with the company or by how much the stakes of existing shareholders have been diluted. Howard Palefsky, another Montreux executive, will also join the board.

GC Aesthetics' accounts show a loss of €5.3m in the year to end June 2009 on revenues of €27m. The company, which employs 330, had borrowings of €20m.

"In general the market for breast implants... is estimated to have declined by 10% to 15% in 2009 compared to the previous year. However, the group's revenues declined by only 3%," it said in the accounts.

The company said it hoped to achieve regulatory approval to sell its products in the US.