Self-styled “acquisition machine” Unilabs acquires teleradiology group
Pan-European lab giant Unilabs has acquired Telemedicine Clinic (TMC), the Barcelona-based teleradiology group. Healthcare Europa speaks to Unilabs COO Michiel Boehmer and TMC CEO Alexander Böhmcker – is it about to drive into imaging services?
TMC provides diagnostic services via a network of radiologists and pathologists who read images remotely in the UK, Germany, and Scandinavia. The deal gives Unilabs 195 radiologists and 9 pathologists based in centres in Spain, England and Australia. TMC claims to be is the largest provider of remote diagnostics for radiology and pathology in Scandinavia and has a strong business in the UK. We estimate 2017 sales for TMC will be in the region €25m.
Unilabs 2016 sales were €810m. That includes a substantial imaging services business in the Nordics and it recently acquired Basegroup in Portugal which gets two thirds of its revenue from imaging.
Unilabs COO Boehmer proudly says: “We’ve been under new ownership since December – and we’ve become an acquisition machine.” Since then Unilabs has done half a dozen deals (see below).
Expect Unilabs to buy more teleradiology and telepathology businesses. Boehmer adds: “Normally, one acquires in markets where one is dominant. However, where an acquisition is sizeable, and we can open a new market, we will do so both in radiology and pathology. With TMC we can accelerate our expansion into new markets.”
He declined to say which countries Unilabs might be looking at but said wherever the company was active, the M&A team were “nearby”.
He adds that Unilabs will benefit from TMC’s experience in managing workflow, and that combining staff would allow greater opportunities for doctors to specialise and greater scope for images to get second and third reads.
TMC CEO Böhmcker tells Healthcare Europa that there are clear benefits for the bigger company: “Unilabs has always been more into labs, but it has also done imaging to a smaller extent. Unilabs main motivation in buying TMC is to use its knowledge and systems to further digitalise its radiology and pathology business. They want to adopt our way of working and quality controls.”
He adds that digitalisation in radiology is 15 years ahead of digitalisation in lab testing where it was still far more a case of “glass slides and microscopes”.
He declined to comment on the terms of the deal, which are not being made public. Böhmcker and the management team at TMC are expected to continue in their present roles.
Our Analysis: Unilabs and TMC are a good match. Unilabs is number one in imaging in the Nordics where it uses an outsource model. Teleradiology will complement that. TMC has solid experience in digitalisation and quality control, and also brings facilities in the UK, Spain and even Australia to the table.
TMC and Unilabs combined will be operating a network of over 500 digital diagnostic specialists – and Unilabs certainly has been splashing the cash this year, as a flurry of acquisitions including a lab group in Peru, another radiology specialist in Portugal, and a Portuguese medical genetics testing company show.
More acquisitions, both in radiology and pathology, are on the cards. Outside of the UK and Nordics, radiology outsourcing is not common due to regulatory issues. Unilabs does seem well placed, however, to make further acquisitions and clearly has the appetite and wallet to do so. We’re expecting (yet more) acquisitions sooner rather than later.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to David Farbrother or call 0207 183 3779.
