CONSOLIDATING DENTISTRY in Spain
Realza Capital has just more than doubled its high-end dentistry business, and is consolidating the sector, says partner David Nunes.
The firm has just added Clínicas Aparicio in Barcelona (52 staff; sales €6m in 2008) to Clinico Perio in Madrid (106 staff; sales €10m in 2008).
Nunes, a partner at the private equity group, said both carried out dental implants and dental surgery. He plans further acquisitions.
He says that Spain has been a very fragmented market, with very low barriers to entry, but that this is changing: “There are now too many juniors coming out of college, so they cannot just go and set up on their own. Instead, they have to freelance for 3-5 years for several practices. There is no training, and it is not very satisfying.”
Nunes says Perio and Aparicio differentiate themselves by offering two years of training to new staff, and by carrying out a lot of external training.
He says Spain remains very fragmented, with 20,000 dentists and 14,000 practices. He adds that, in Spain, retiring dentists don’t typically sell their businesses as they do in the USA and the UK: “We want to start this, but the trouble is that the practice has to be large enough.”
Nunes reckons that a good dentist, in an established practice with two auxiliary staff, can “easily” achieve sales of €500,000.
He claims that the recession has not led to a drop in sales for the two companies, but says he has heard of big drops elsewhere, particularly in dental tourism.