Advent buys majority stake in CMU for EUR 40 million in biggest deal so far this year

Investment fund Advent International has bought an 80 percent stake in private medical services supplier Centrul Medical Unirea, in a deal worth EUR 40 million. This is the largest transaction involving medical services this year.

Investment fund 3TS Capital Partners, which was previously the second largest shareholder within the firm, along with the company founder Wargha Enayati, have exited from the deal. 3TS used to hold 39 percent of the shares in CMU, with Enayati holding the rest. The CMU founder has thus given up his major shareholder position, with Advent now owning the majority stake in CMU.

CMU started looking for an investor five months ago, when 12 firms were interested in the deal. Only 8 were selected for the preliminary stage, two of which were shortlisted. 3TS entered CMU three years ago, since when the firm has increased its turnover from EUR 5 million to EUR 16.5 million.

“The coming years will mean an unprecedented development and expansion plan, both for CMU and for the local medical services market. The EUR 30 million investment budget we will have will initially go on the first greenfield hospital specializing in surgery in Romania, a EUR 12 million investment, but also on other important projects that we have for 2010 and 2011,” said Wargha Enayati general manager of Centrul Medical Unirea. “We are very interested in expanding horizontally, especially in greenfield investments. Future investments will be fueled by our own funds, as in the past, and by loans and funds from our investors,” he added.

Last year, CMU posted a 72 percent increase in turnover, to almost EUR 16.5 million. The company’s biggest investment was the EUR 1.3 million it poured into the Regina Maria maternity hospital. Wargha Enayati set up Centrul Medical Unirea 15 years ago. It now runs 11 clinics in Bucharest, a stem cell bank, three clinics in Constanta, two in Cluj and one in Bacau, along with the maternity hospital in Bucharest. CMU has more than 75,000 subscribers to its medical services, according to its data. “CMU represents a solid platform for our expansion to a national level on the private medical services market. We will continue to support the development plans of the CMU founder and of his management team towards a strong increase on the ambulatory and hospital medical services,” said Emma Popa-Radu, managing director of Advent International.

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Corina Saceanu