Internationalisation is the key to success
Internationalisation is the key to success. That’s the mantra we heard from the CEO of diagnostics group Unilabs who, if you’ve been following our weekly newsletters, you’ll know has been on a large and global spending spree of late.
The company appears on track to meet its target to become a €2bn giant after buying four companies based in three continents in just 48 days. CEO Jos Lamers clearly believes diversifying internationally is the key to success.
The company has recently bought in Peru, the UAE, and Portugal – a move that Lamers explains will help Unilabs to become “number one, two or three” in all of the markets where it is present.
It typically buys companies showing 20% EBITDA margins – the same as the group itself. Lamers would not reveal how much the group actually intends to spend in total, but internationalisation has been a key trend in the diagnostics sector and beyond, with the Middle East and Latin America seemingly favourite destinations among European operators.
Last year, French reference lab Cerba bought laboratory chain Menalabs in the UAE in a bid to expand not only geographically but also in terms of testing segments (Menalabs specialises in veterinary biology).
Outside of the diagnostics space, we know insurers like Bupa-owned Sanitas and Asisa have been looking closely at Latin America and the Middle East respectively.
But why are companies like Unilabs moving when the clinical laboratories sector is so fragmented at home? Lamers has a single word reply. Tariffs. He says:“One way to protect yourself is becoming more diversified internationally, which is what we are doing.”
Destinations, however, are not chosen at random.
“The way we choose assets is based on whether we’ve been historically tied to the countries where they are present. The reason why we invested in Latam and the Middle East is simply because we already had customers there and an initial business to build on,” says Lamers.
“The demand for oncology services will continue to be a great underlying source for further expansion of our customer base, organically and un-organically,” he adds.
Whenever we ask our readers to tell us what they are most interested to read about, internationalisation always figures highly, and with good reason. Expect many more cross-border deals in the coming months.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Ariane Jugieux or call 0207 183 3779.