Romanian private healthcare operator plans strategic acquisitions in the next 18 months

A syndicate of banks led by the Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), including ING Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, offered a EUR 56 million loan to MedLife, one of the most important players on the domestic market of private healthcare services.

According to a press release, EUR 20 million of contracted funds today are intended solely for procurement projects planned for the near future, in order to fast expansion of MedLife operations nationwide. The company will add EUR 20 million with another EUR 5 million minimum, own funds, the total procurement budget amounting to a minimum of EUR 25 million.

“Now we are competing for all the Romanian companies in the private sector and not only, and with some of them we are already in advanced discussions. We do not exclude any possibility of new financing / alliances for major acquisitions, these directions being part of our business strategy through which we aim to strengthen our leading position and to significantly distance ourselves from second and third on the market,” Mihai Marcu, President of MedLife’s Board, stated.

In addition to the proposed acquisitions, the private healthcare operator will also continue to expand its operations through greenfield projects. The company intends to expand its hyperclinics network with 2 new units, as well as the hospitals network with a new large-scale unit, all being planned for cities with over 200,000 inhabitants.

“2016 began with better results than expected, we recorded an increase of over 20 percent in the first two months compared to the same period last year while the National Health Insurance House (CNAS) contracts fell by 15 percent over the same period last year,” Marcu noted.

MedLife private healthcare operator will keep investing also in upgrading the existing units. At the moment the company has an ongoing acquisition of two new MRI equipment, a 128 slices CT and at least 15 mono and multidisciplinary high-end ultrasounds, the total investment exceeding EUR 5 million.