Acquisition of gastroenterological business in Stockholm
Global Health Partner has acquired Stockholm Gastro Center, a specialist clinic with operations within medical gastroenterology and endoscopy located at Sophiahemmet in Stockholm. “The acquisition of Stockholm Gastro Center is a good complement to the obesity surgery business that we run at Kirurgkliniken and Bariatric Center Stockholm in Sophiahemmet’s facilities. This is a combination of businesses that we also have at our clinics in Lund and Prague and where we see good coordination and expansion opportunities,” says Per Båtelson, Global Health Partner’s CEO.
Stockholm Gastro Center was formed in 2008 in connection with a major procurement process within Stockholm County Council and today incorporates a gastro centre, an IBD unit and an endoscopy unit. The company’s former owners, the specialist doctors Robert Löfberg and Bengt Lavö, who both have very long gastroenterological experience, are staying on as co-owners. Global Health Partner’s acquired share is 60%.
Stockholm Gastro Center has 15 full-time employees. The company has a turnover of approximately 30 MSEK and good profitability, well in line with Global Health Partner’s other specialist clinics in a mature phase. In addition to major specialist care agreements with Stockholm County Council the company also has contracts with most of the leading insurance companies. Stockholm Gastro Center has a good financial position, with an equity/assets ratio of about 40% and positive net cash. The company will be consolidated in Global Health Partner as of 1 October 2010 and will have a marginal but positive effect on the Group’s results and sales.
Stockholm Gastro Center is situated next to Global Health Partner’s clinic Bariatric Center Stockholm at Sophiahemmet, and medical gastroenterology and endoscopy have close links with obesity surgery. Today there is an increasing demand for gastroenterological specialist care and endoscopy, in particular coloscopy, where the colon is examined, for example to rule out cancer. Stockholm Gastro Center also provides specialist care within the area of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an increasingly common health problem that today affects approximately 1% of the population. More than 1,500 patients with IBD are today given care at Stockholm Gastro Center, which also runs clinical research within this area.
Global Health Partner operates specialist clinics within the following selected treatment areas: spinal surgery/spinal care, specialist dentistry, obesity surgery and metabolic diseases, orthopaedics and arrhythmia. There are clinics for the treatment of obesity in Stockholm, Lund, Bergen, Birmingham, Cairo, Helsinki, Prague, Copenhagen, Odense and Ajman (United Arab Emirates). There are also endoscopic centres at the clinics in Lund and Prague.
27 September 2010
Gothenburg, Sweden
Global Health Partner AB (publ)
Queries should be addressed to:
Per Båtelson, CEO, phone 46 705 95 57 00
Anna Ahlberg, Head of Investor Relations, phone 46 708 55 38 35
Global Health Partner is an internationally active healthcare provider that operates specialist clinics in a select number of treatment areas through the application of a business model that is unique in the healthcare industry, where leading doctors become partners and shareholders. Multiple clinics with high patient volumes within the same area of treatment produce increased efficiency and higher quality, which is the cornerstone of Global Health Partner's business philosophy – ”Quality through Specialisation”. Global Health Partner’s shares are traded on the Small Cap list at NASDAQ OMX Stockholm under the abbreviation “GHP.”
Global Health Partner AB (publ) | www.globalhealthpartner.com
Corp. ID No. 556757-1103 | Östra Hamngatan 26-28 | SE-411 09 Gothenburg | Sweden
Tel 46-31 712 53 00 | Fax 46-31 313 13 21
This is a translation of the Swedish version of the press release. When in doubt, the Swedish wording prevails.