American Heart of Poland set to sell before election
We hear that American Heart of Poland, with €250m revenue, has found a buyer. M&A is quiet in much of Europe but roaring in Poland where groups are set to sell before general and presidential elections late in the autumn of 2023.
Click here to see the largest hospital groups in Europe by revenue in HBI Intelligence.
Sources say that American Heart of Poland, the big heart hospital chain, has found a buyer and “at a good price too.” The business is mainly owned by the physicians who set the business up at the behest of the Polish government which was worried by the number of citizens keeling over with coronaries via two investors – AHP Investments and Heart. Once it was up and running the Polish government promptly dropped its tariffs kyboshing profits. PE fund Advent International took a substantial minority stake in 2011 but subsequently sold it off, probably to management in the wake of the tariff cuts.
But our sources say that AHP has since recovered and broadened its portfolio to include spas and some hospital privatisation. Media reports say the company had revenue of 499m PLN (€112m) in the 2021/20 financial year on which it made a net profit of 19.5 PLN (€4.3m) although the company now claims sales of €250m.
The group might sell to Bupa-owned Lux Med or possibly to Penta Hospitals International which has been building a pan-CEE hospital chain.
In answer to our queries we received the following statement from Adam Szlachta, CEO American Heart of Poland:
“American Heart of Poland is a leading comprehensive provider of cardiovascular care in Europe and is the largest private healthcare provider in Poland offering superior quality medical and rehabilitation care. The Management is spearheading a dynamic market consolidation in order to further boost the Group’s growth. With revenues of EUR 250 million today (over 2x organic revenue growth over the last 3 years), the management strategy assumes a further doubling of the Group operations and financial performance in the short term. As a consequence American Heart of Poland attracts the attention of numerous global industry and financial players, who actively approach the Group’s Management and its Shareholders.”
Other groups said to be selling include oncology group Nu-med, owned by Kartesia and Enterprise Investors, with revenue of 30m PLN (€6.7m) a year and substantial losses in 2021 and 2022. Another seller could be Scanmed, owned by Abris Capital Partners, which bought Ars Medical in the spring of 2023 and operates 41 multidisciplinary medical centres across 23 cities in Poland serving 350,000 individual patients and 20,000 corporate clients on an outpatient basis, competing with much larger employer paid-for healthcare players like Medicover and Lux Med. Its revenue came to 388m PLN (€87m) (in 2020/21 on which it made a net loss of 37m PLN (.
Voxel, the big imaging group which is listed on the Warsaw stock market could also sell. Revenue came to 500PLN in 2022.
The Polish economy continues to motor and observers say that the populist/nationalist Law and Justice party’s bark has been worse than its bite when it came to private healthcare. HBI hears: “Ideologically it is opposed to global capital but, in practice, the party has worked well on the ground. And it has invested heavily in childhood allowances and healthcare. The central bank tightened interest rates early and may start reducing them in the autumn of 2023 ahead of the elections.”
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
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