A stake of 80% in the second largest private healthcare group in Romania has been acquired from 3i for over 12 times EBITDA, according to sources familiar with the transaction. The previous owners had told Healthcare Europa that 2009 EBITDA would hit €5m suggesting Advent paid €60m.

The price for the group which has a maternity clinic, a network of 19 clinics, a surgery unit and some 80,000 subscribers, surprised many onlookers. Romania’s GDP has after all plummeted 8% in 2009. But managers say that CMU hardly noticed the recession. “We were constantly being warned that it would come, but we have barely felt the impact,” said one source. Whilst a few subscribers did cancel, most simply dropped a level.

Advent says that sales are expected to come to €21m in 2010. In previous articles we were told by Daniel Lynch at 3TS that sales in 2009 should hit €16m with an EBITDA of €5m. Lynch refused to comment when we approached him.

Our Analysis: Advent is getting a platform from which it can build a much larger private healthcare group. Romania remains a market where the amount spent on private healthcare outside the country probably exceeds that spent inside the country. CMU has a decent management team and should be able to build dominance.