MedLife acquires majority stake in Hungary clinic in first move towards international markets

Private healthcare provider MedLife has announced its first international acquisition as it has taken over the majority stake (51 percent) of the Rózsakert Medical Center network in Hungary.

MedLife CEO Mihai Marcu told Business Review in May that his company was looking to expand to other markets, particularly Hungary and Serbia.

Rózsakert Medical Center (RMC) is one of the top 10 private medical services operators in Hungary. It comprises a multidisciplinary clinic which also includes a section for small surgical interventions and a dentistry centre. According to company data, RMC has over 40,000 patients per year.

“It is the first move of a Romanian company from the private healthcare sector towards external markets and we are proud that MedLife is crossing barriers and taking Romanian capital further. Hungary has an interesting private healthcare market and it is rapidly developing. The investment for this phase goes up to 4-5 million euros, and in the next period we’ll be looking at other expansion opportunities. Europe lacks cross-border businesses and very few companies have managed to do this, especially in the complex medical services sector, with clinics, imagery, labs and hospitals under the same roof. We have the chance to be an example and if we are successful, Hungary and Romania can become pioneers and create a regional company,” said Mihai Marcu, CEO and president of MedLife Group.

The RMC group was established in 2001 by Dr Gyula Csermely, and it has a team of 250 doctors and nurses. The group had a continuous and dynamic development over the past few years and have managed to maintain the highest standards both medically and technologically. In 2017, RMC had a turnover of EUR 4.2 million.

“The investment is not a simple transaction, but also the incorporation of a strategic and well-capitalised partner, with an approach that is similar to ours. We will go forward following the same direction, and our strategic objectives will be expansion and accelerated growth,” said RMC CEO Dr Gyula Csermely.

MedLife’s local acquisition plan will continue in 2019, and so will the development on other business segments.

“We’ve created a complex medical system with national coverage – there are no cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants where MedLife is not present. In 2019 we’ll focus on digitalization, second opinions and developing excellence centres at the level of our 10 hospitals, for several specialties, such as neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, abdominal surgery, gynecology and sports trauma. We’ve grown a lot in terms of the complexity of our medical services and this makes us a great business and medical partner,” added Mihai Marcu.