PPF Group, the large Dutch private equity and property investment group, has bought hospital and clinic group Euroclinicum in the Czech Republic. PPF manages over €10bn in assets and has set up PPF Healthcare to invest in the sector across Central and Eastern Europe.

Project manager Mr Molik said: “We bought Euroclinicum because EBITDA margins in the Czech republic are pretty good. We are looking across the region but we are particularly interested in Russia where we are already active.”

Euroclinicum has sales of "under Ckr 1bn" (EUR38m), making it considerably smaller than the marketleaders Agel and PPP and a little smaller than Mediterra which is owned by big quoted dialysis and hospital group Fresenius. Ownership of Mediterra was recently transferred from Helios, Fresenius’s German hospital arm to Vamed, which builds hospitals around the world.

Others are less enchanted by the Czech hospital market than PPF. One source said: "You have to buy property as well as the clinical services and essentially what you get is a building which you then rent out to local doctors and you run a small lab and imaging business on the side. And the property is ex-public sector and in pretty bad condition."