Mercapital in talks to add Cetir to its Spanish imaging empire
publication date: Nov 6, 2009
Following swiftly on its acquisition of a majority stake in Recoletas Diagnostico, leading Spanish private equity group Mercapital has bought Cetir, one of the two market-leaders in Catalonia. Its aim is to consolidate medical imaging in the Iberian peninsular.
Business newspaper Expansion says that Mercapital paid €50m for a majority stake in Cetir which it says has sales of €37m in 2008 on which it made a profit of €2.5m. But Cetir's Jordi Setoian told Healthcare Europa that nothing has as yet been signed and that Cetir was still considering the offer.He did not confirm the price.
Mercapital estimates that medical imaging is worth €1bn a year in Spain and is growing at 5%. It believes that some 30% is already in the private sector.
The private sector is divided into two distinct halves. First we have 100-200 small clinics who mainly work for private healthcare insurers, occupational healthcare and general insurers in areas such as traffic accidents. They will also sometimes take on contract work for public hospitals to reduce waiting lists. Margins are low.
Secondly, we have the growth of outsourcing by public hospitals to the private sector. This is most developed in Valencia, where Eresa, with sales of €47m in 2008, has won a contract to run MRI across the region. A source at Cetir said that so far in Catalonia around 25% of inpatient work has been outsourced. Contracts are typically 7-10 years and are won as public tenders.
Thanks partly to these big outsourcing contracts each of the 17 healthcare regions tends to have a dominant local player.
Alliance Medical has a fleet of trucks which it lets out on a temporary basis and four clinics in Spain. Chief executive Alan Pilgrim says: “We want to expand in Spain, but everytime we look at the market we find more opportunities in our main markets in Italy and the UK.” He says some large outsourcing contracts are coming up in Spain. Euromedic, the other European marketleader in imaging, has no presence in Spain, but is active in Portugal.
Business newspaper Expansion says that Mercapital paid €50m for a majority stake in Cetir which it says has sales of €37m in 2008 on which it made a profit of €2.5m. But Cetir's Jordi Setoian told Healthcare Europa that nothing has as yet been signed and that Cetir was still considering the offer.He did not confirm the price.
Mercapital estimates that medical imaging is worth €1bn a year in Spain and is growing at 5%. It believes that some 30% is already in the private sector.
The private sector is divided into two distinct halves. First we have 100-200 small clinics who mainly work for private healthcare insurers, occupational healthcare and general insurers in areas such as traffic accidents. They will also sometimes take on contract work for public hospitals to reduce waiting lists. Margins are low.
Secondly, we have the growth of outsourcing by public hospitals to the private sector. This is most developed in Valencia, where Eresa, with sales of €47m in 2008, has won a contract to run MRI across the region. A source at Cetir said that so far in Catalonia around 25% of inpatient work has been outsourced. Contracts are typically 7-10 years and are won as public tenders.
Thanks partly to these big outsourcing contracts each of the 17 healthcare regions tends to have a dominant local player.
Alliance Medical has a fleet of trucks which it lets out on a temporary basis and four clinics in Spain. Chief executive Alan Pilgrim says: “We want to expand in Spain, but everytime we look at the market we find more opportunities in our main markets in Italy and the UK.” He says some large outsourcing contracts are coming up in Spain. Euromedic, the other European marketleader in imaging, has no presence in Spain, but is active in Portugal.