French insurer buys into hospital sector
publication date: Jul 29, 2009
Predica, the life and insurance arm of Credit Agricole, has taken a 42% stake in French private hospital operator Groupe Proclif for around €70 million. The sellers are Duke Street Capital and management with the former seeing its stake fall from 80% to 50.1% and the latter from 20% to 8%.
Proclif has expanded from 2 to 10 clinics since it was bought by Duke Street in 2005 and has sales of around €135m which it is believed makes it the second largest player in the Paris area. The clinics, which together cover almost all the main medical areas, all trade separately and Proclif has a very low profile. Last year, Duke Street reinforced the management team with the appointment of David Hillier, the former chief executive of healthcare group Capio in France and in the UK, as managing director.
It is believed that the group now plans to expand nationwide. Our next issue will carry a more detailed overview of the deal.