EYE surgery chain sold in Czech Republic
publication date: Apr 23, 2009
Lexum Group, a chain of opthalmological eye surgeries in the Czech republic has been bought 100% by ARX Equity Partners. ARX partner Brian Wardrop says he plans to expand in the Czech Republic and, possibly, across Eastern Europe.
Lexum has operations in Prague, Ostrava and Ceské Budejovice, with a Brno clinic scheduled to open this summer and was set up in 1993 by Professor Filipec, who was chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Teaching Hospital and the 1st Medical Faculty of Charles' University in Prague. Wardrop told Healthcare Europe: "this is definitely not a distressed sale, otherwise we would not have got bank lending. ARX has bought out the two passive partners who wanted to sell." He denied that there had been a steep downturn in laser treatment adding: "the Czech market has yet to be badly affected by the recession."
In 2008, it performed over 11,000 cataract operations and over 5,700 laser refractive corrective procedures.
Wardrop claims 25% of the Czech eye surgery market. He says that cataracts, where Lexum is contracted to the state, makes up 50% of sales with private laser eye surgery making up the rest. Although the company has a healthcare tourism website with eight European languages, prices and credit card signs Wardrop says that almost all the clients are Czech.
The acquisition appears to be ARX's first foray into healthcare. Wardrop says the company is active at the small end of the maket with transaction sizes ranging from €5-€15m.
