M&A is picking up in the European imaging sector this week with Affidea and Naxicap buying big in Italy and Switzerland, respectively, and a top-five German imaging group reportedly in the middle of a sales process.
The pandemic is causing many businesses and their investors to reassess their plans - and their portfolios. HBI speaks to Ray Berglund, Head of European Healthcare and Life Sciences at management consultants Alvarez & Marsal, and his colleague and Managing Director Dominic Orchard, about why they have never been busier, and the clear trend they are seeing towards carve-outs.
The first FDA approval for an Alzheimer's drug in 20 years, aducanumab, sent the share price of South African and European hospital/imaging group Life Healthcare soaring 17%. The group manufacturers one of only three amyloid tracers for PET-CT diagnosis of the disease and is also the largest for-profit provider of PET-CT scans in Europe.
South African hospital and European imaging group Life Healthcare is planning to enter the imaging market on home turf, with up to 3bn Rand (€180m) earmarked for buying out radiology practices in its hospitals, its head of Investor Relations (IR) tells HBI.
Nicolas Weber, CEO of German imaging group medneo, says that the company has had "a great market entry" to the UK. He expects more national openings as demand for imaging soars post-COVID.
Margins for some of the largest French imaging operators halved from 2015 to 2019, after tariffs cuts in 2017, while the combined figure at the top 30 fell 2.4 percentage points.
Life Healthcare's international division continued to make up for its sluggish core South African (SA) market in the last two quarters meaning it expects better results than SA-only competitor Netcare. German group Asklepios, the largest single-country hospital operator in Europe, saw a big loss in 2020 despite generous state support.
Diagnostic group Unilabs has entered Peruvian imaging with the acquisition of Cimedic. The group says it's the start of a strategic plan for diagnostic growth in the country.
Spain's second-largest hospital group Vithas has brought together its diagnostic arms into a new division called Vithas Diagnostics. It's headed by a new employee, who comes straight from Synlab.
NHS England will not have the capital to fund the 100-plus new outpatient imaging centres needed to meet demand in the coming years, says the CEO of Imaging Holdings, a top-five for-profit imaging operator. The group is launching four new mobile imaging units after securing a growth funding facility from its PE backer Apposite Capital.
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