Handicare divests Patient Handling Europe to increase focus on the development of Accessibility
Handicare has signed an agreement to divest Patient Handling Europe, including all Patient Handling operations outside North America, to Direct Healthcare Group. The purchase price amounts to approximately EUR 30 million on a cash and debt free basis (Enterprise Value). The transaction is expected to close in May.
Patient Handling Europe offers medical devices that simplify patient transfers within the institutional and home care settings. The business unit has 87 employees and sales of EUR 27 million in 2019, corresponding to 11 percent of Handicare's total sales during the same period.
The divestment is a result of the strategic review announced in connection with the Q3 report 2019. The review has concluded that Handicare should focus on the development of the business unit Accessibility (stair lifts) and continue with the ongoing restructuring of Patient Handling North America with the aim to restore profitable growth.
Handicare Accessibility has a market leading position in the attractive stairlift market, where Handicare over the past 8 years has achieved an organic sales growth averaging 6 percent per year. The Accessibility market is a global niche market with growth driven by demographic and macroeconomic factors. Given Handicare's strong position within Accessibility, the company has concluded that an increased focus on this business unit has the greatest potential to create future shareholder value. This will allow accelerated organic growth through continued geographical expansion and development of new products. In addition, the proceeds from the transaction will enable a more active M&A agenda. Following the transaction, Accessibility (stairlifts) accounts for approximately 87% of Handicare Group Adjusted EBITDA (before group-wide expenses) based on 2019 earnings.
“The sale of Patient Handling Europe provides resources we can deploy to further strengthen and expand our market leading position within the global and highly attractive Accessibility niche market. With regards to Patient Handling North America, we will continue the ongoing restructuring program with focus on growth and to streamline operations. Accessibility has limited synergies with Patient Handling Europe, while there are more synergies with Patient Handling North America, especially within our home care offering.”, says Staffan Ternström, President and CEO of the Handicare.
Direct Healthcare Group is an industrial player with several strong brands within healthcare and patient handling. Through the acquisition of Patient Handling Europe, the group takes an important step towards becoming a leading European provider of solutions and products used to facilitate the care of patients with limited mobility.
Graham Ewart, CEO at Direct Healthcare Group, says: “The acquisition of Handicare Patient Handling Europe represents a key strategic step in delivering our clinically proven, market-leading pressure care management and specialist seating portfolios into wider European markets presently serviced by Handicare. With the addition of Patient Handling Europe, we can encourage even safer, earlier mobilisations and recoveries across a broader patient population. This will continue DHG’s more than decade-old history of achieving better health outcomes and economic efficiencies for those who would otherwise be bedbound.”
The purchase price amounts to approximately EUR 30 million on a cash and debt free basis (“Enterprise Value”) and corresponds to an EV / adjusted EBITDA multiple of circa 8x for the full year 2019. The transaction triggers a write down of goodwill and other intangible assets and results in a capital loss, before transaction costs, to an estimated amount of MEUR 12 which will be reported in Handicare's financial statements in the second quarter.
The closing of the transaction is not conditional upon any regulatory approvals or other external conditions and requires only Patient Handling Europe to be carved out from the other operations of Handicare. This is expected to be completed in May.
For more information, contact:
Staffan Ternström, CEO, Tel: +46 725 490 029
Pernilla Lindén, CFO & IR, Tel: +46 708 775 832
This information is information that Handicare Group AB (publ) is required to disclose pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 03.30 CEST on 9 April 2020.
About Handicare
Handicare offers solutions to increase the independence of disabled or elderly people, and to facilitate for their care providers and family. The offering encompasses a comprehensive range of curved and straight stairlifts, transfer, lifting and repositioning aids and vehicle adaptations. Handicare is a global company with sales in more than 20 countries and is one of the market leaders in this field. The head office is in Stockholm, Sweden and manufacturing and assembly is located at five sites distributed across North America, Asia and Europe. In the twelve-month period to December 2019, revenue amounted to MEUR 271 and the adjusted EBITA margin was 7.8%. Employees amounted to 1,040 and the share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. For more information, www.handicaregroup.com.
About Direct Healthcare Group
No-one better understands the importance of movement and its relationship to both physical and mental health than Direct Healthcare Group, especially when the need to move directly affects the quality of daily living. DHG develops, manufactures and continuously refines a complete range of medical devices focused on early mobilization of patients in order to prevent health challenges associated with non-movement. The use of Direct Healthcare Group’s products and services means serious medical issues associated with reduced patient movement are anticipated, managed, and resolved. DHG is committed to better health outcomes, accelerated recovery and easier daily living. For more information, www.directhealthcaregroup.com