South Africa''s Medi-Clinic to buy Hirslanden of Switzerland

03 August 2007

Mumbai: Medi-Clinic Corp. Ltd., South Africa''s third-largest hospital chain, will acquire private equity-owned Swiss peer Klinik Hirslanden AG for Sfr2.85 billion ($2.36 billion).

Stellenbosch, South Africa-based Medi-Clinic said the acquisition of Hirslanden would add 13 private hospitals and €600 million ($822 million) in annual revenue to the group.

Medi-Clinic plans to finance the acquisition mainly through a new loan from Barclays Bank plc and would sell 198.7 million new shares to raise at least 4.5 billion rand ($634 million) to pay for the remainder.

Besides South Africa, Medi-Clinic also operates hospitals in the United Arab Emirates.

"The company has made a strategic decision to diversify geographically within its core business of acute, specialist-orientated hospital care and to transform itself into a truly international hospital company," Medi-Clinic said in a statement.

BC Partners, which bought the hospital group in 2002 for Sfr930 million from UBS, have invested an additional Sfr400 million into the group and acquired the St. Anna Hospital in Lucerne, Switzerland.