Being a super courier helps you get ahead in healthcare
With the sale of Unilabs hitting the headlines this week, and Synlab having listed back in May this year, labs would be very much in the spotlight even if Covid was no longer a threat. When you look at who has just bought Unilabs and why it says it made the purchase – and consider the man at the helm of Synlab, an interesting coincidence appears.
Click here to go to the HBI Intelligence report on laboratory services, and here to read more about Unilabs, and here to read about Synlab.
Mathieu Floreani, CEO at Frankfurt listed Synlab, has a background in freight logistics. For almost 13 years he worked for global courier DHL, and for almost six years was CEO there.
Meanwhile, Unilabs has just been acquired by A.P. Moller Holding, founded and run by the Maersk family. Robert M. Uggla, CEO, says one of the main positives about the acquisition is that “Unilabs offers a good fit with our group’s purpose and understanding for how to run local operations requiring a high degree of automation and local logistics across different geographies.”
Automation and distribution are increasingly two of the key buzzwords in the lab industry today and the logistics connections at the top of both companies is not a coincidence. As previously reported by HBI, private equity has changed the way that diagnostics are delivered and has made it difficult to sell more expensive solutions that have added value.
Lab tests are a commodity. A big portion of the sector is automated and increasingly increasing margins is about efficiencies in automation and logistics.
Want to run or buy a lab group? You may have had a super career so far. But if you’ve also been a super courier, that could prove a distinct advantage.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to David Farbrother or call 0207 183 3779.
