MidEuropa has been backing regional champions for 25 years, with healthcare a core focus for most of that time. This rich experience has enabled it to identify exciting opportunities for the future.
Healthcare provision in the fast-growing economies of Central Europe has been on a remarkable journey supported by substantial investment to broaden service offering and improve accessibility. Private equity has played a significant part in financing the investment for expanding facilities and equipment to establish new hospitals and enhance provision across the region. MidEuropa has established itself as the leader in this space owing to its remarkable track record across Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Serbia, and its portfolio now serves clients across Europe, including the UK.
MidEuropa has backed seven private healthcare platforms as they expanded successfully through significant greenfields and almost 200 add-on acquisitions. These investments enabled them to offer new treatment modalities through new facilities, collectively serving over 25 million patients across seven geographies.
MidEuropa has created national champions in private healthcare:
- Lux Med Group, which became the number one provider of private out-patient healthcare in Poland
- Regina Maria, which become one of Romania’s largest private integrated healthcare providers
Specialist providers have also grown with MidEuropa’s support:
- Poland’s laboratory diagnostics specialist Diagnostyka has increased revenues 15x and covers 99% of the Polish population following MidEuropa’s investment
- Alpha Medical became a market leader in lab diagnostics in Slovakia and Czech Republic through nearly 30 acquisitions with MidEuropa’s support
- Ophthalmology specialist Optegra Eye Health Care’s UK business has experienced a c. 50% increase in volumes as MidEuropa supported four acquisitions in the first year following the investment
Poland’s Lux Med Group became the number one provider of private out-patient healthcare in Poland after it was built through a series of acquisitions supported by MidEuropa between 2007 and 2013. Recognising the opportunity created by the unmet demand for premium service offering from the rapidly growing urban middle class, MidEuropa led the consolidation which saw four of the country’s top-10 healthcare providers brought together along with seven additional companies. Once the assets were aggregated under one roof, MidEuropa actively supported the Group’s integration through the launch of a unified digital platform which significantly differentiated the group from its competitors. By the time MidEuropa sold Lux Med to UK insurer BUPA in 2013, the Company was providing more than six million annual patient consultations and interventions, serving over one million unique registered subscribers.
MidEuropa is driving similar success in Romania, where Regina Maria has become one of the country’s largest private healthcare providers following its investment in 2015. Since then, revenues have soared seven times as MidEuropa invested over €250 million to construct 18 greenfield facilities and acquire 29 operators ranging from acute care hospitals, imaging and laboratory diagnostic centres, outpatient clinics and a leading dentistry chain. The impressive growth has been centred on patient care and quality standards throughout, and the business has secured 14 international accreditations from leading institutions such as Joint Commission International and Surgical Review Corporation. During the pandemic, Regina Maria offered Romania’s largest antibody testing programme for frontline medical staff, and more recently provided free medical care for Ukrainian refugees.
Regina Maria’s international expansion started in 2018 when MidEuropa acquired MediGroup in Serbia and invited Regina Maria’s management team to take on the responsibility for accelerating the transfer of knowhow to the local management team. Since 2021, MediGroup has been fully integrated into the Regina Maria platform.
Supporting specialists
The expertise gleaned from working so closely with leading industry experts to build world-class companies has equipped MidEuropa to identify high potential segments within healthcare.
MidEuropa’s investment in Lux Med shone a light on the importance of diagnostics as a high potential segment due to its growing role in prevention. In 2011 MidEuropa invested in Diagnostyka, which was then a leading regional laboratory diagnostics group in southern Poland. MidEuropa then spurred the Company to expand through over 100 acquisitions and significant greenfield expansion to create the national leader in the laboratory diagnostics space. Diagnostyka has increased its revenues 15 times and covers 99% of the Polish population with over 1,100 collection points as well as over 5,000 partner locations performing over 140 million tests annually.
Diagnostyka’s rapid turnaround time and reliability of results on over 3,000 different tests has been a game-changer for people in Poland, facilitating timely medical diagnostics and enhancing patient outcomes. Its market-leading position is supported by the Company’s status as an independent founder-owned provider, which means that referring physicians see Diagnostyka as a partner and not a competitor.
Following the successful investment in Diagnostyka, in 2012 MidEuropa acquired Alpha Medical, a leading lab diagnostics platform in Slovakia and Czech Republic. The Company achieved market leadership in both countries through nearly 30 acquisitions to more than double its test volumes during its partnership with MidEuropa before its sale to Unilabs in 2017. The sale marked one of the largest healthcare transactions in Central Europe, equalled only by the sale of Lux Med.
Ophthalmology is another specialised segment within healthcare which MidEuropa identified and embraced with vigour. Since MidEuropa’s investment in early 2023, Optegra Eye Health Care’s UK business has experienced a remarkable c. 50% increase in volumes as it benefits from its investor’s support in M&A and business development.
MidEuropa has supported Optegra in the launch of six new treatment centres and the creation of a leader in the Slovak market, with four acquisitions in the last six months creating a strong national platform.
Looking ahead
MidEuropa sees ample opportunity in Europe to apply its proven expertise in enhancing healthcare operators to improve patient outcomes, as well as building platforms which foster a sense of partnership with the medical professionals. This is an increasingly important consideration in the context of growing scarcity of talent. Areas for growth include dentistry and veterinary medicine, both highly fragmented and ripe for consolidation to provide better outcomes, as well as contract development and manufacturing organisations, which can help pharma companies bring products to market more efficiently.
For 25 years, MidEuropa has been transforming businesses by supporting with consolidation, international expansion, digitalisation, operational excellence, and sustainability initiatives. “Healthcare has been and will continue to be a core focus as we see tremendous scope to bring to patients served by our portfolio companies better healthcare outcomes and more satisfying user experience,” Matthew says.
