Waterland: MEDIAN signs two acquisitions in one day

Berlin/Eschenburg/Düsseldorf — MEDIAN, a port­fo­lio company of the invest­ment firm Water­land Private Equity and the largest private opera­tor of reha­bi­li­ta­tion clinics in Germany, signed two take­over agree­ments on July 18, thus conti­nuing its buy & build acti­vi­ties. With the Eschen­burg Clinic and the Düssel­dorf Rhein-Reha, MEDIAN is further expan­ding its leading posi­tion in the reha­bi­li­ta­tion market. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price or further finan­cial details of both transactions.

In the Lahn-Dill district of central Hesse, MEDIAN takes over the Eschen­burg Clinic. It comple­ments the range of services in the core area of addic­tion and depen­dency disor­ders. It offers 87 treat­ment beds and a wide range of treat­ment for drug and alco­hol addic­tion. A special compe­tence of the Eschen­burg Clinic is the treat­ment of addic­tion problems of elderly people. The clinic also includes three outpa­ti­ent faci­li­ties in Dillen­burg, Wetz­lar and Gies­sen. Through this acqui­si­tion, MEDIAN is not only expan­ding its status as the largest private reha­bi­li­ta­tion company in Germany. With a total of 30 specia­list clinics and adapt­a­tion houses nati­on­wide, MEDIAN is now also the market leader in the field of reha­bi­li­ta­tion for addic­tion and depen­dency disor­ders. MEDIAN is also conti­nuing its growth course in nort­hern Rhine­­land-Pala­­ti­­nate and Hesse. In Janu­ary 2019, the health­care company had alre­ady acqui­red Klini­ken Wied GmbH & Co. KG in the Wester­wald region, 65 kilo­me­ters away. Both faci­li­ties have a simi­lar perfor­mance profile and are to coope­rate closely in the future.

In Düssel­dorf, MEDIAN will take over the Outpa­ti­ent Cardio­logy Rehab Center Rhein-Reha, the take­over will be comple­ted at the turn of the year 2019/20. Rhein-Reha will be inte­gra­ted with its entire clinic opera­ti­ons and also by name under the umbrella of MEDIAN’s alre­ady exis­ting Outpa­ti­ent Health Center Düssel­dorf. The tran­si­tion will be desi­gned for all pati­ents and employees without inter­rupt­ing ongo­ing treatments.

Dr. Cars­ten Rahlfs (photo), Mana­ging Part­ner of Water­land, says: “The demand for rehab services for the treat­ment of addic­tion and depen­dency disor­ders is growing steadily. MEDIAN, as the new number one in this specia­list area, will bene­fit from the exper­tise of Klinik Eschen­burg. This is because the faci­lity enjoys an excel­lent repu­ta­tion and ideally comple­ments MEDIAN’s presence in the region. In addi­tion, we are plea­sed about the expan­sion of the range of services in cardio­logy through the acqui­si­tion of the Düssel­dorf Rhein-Reha. The center’s clout will be fully deve­lo­ped after the inte­gra­tion has been comple­ted at the begin­ning of next year.”

Since Waterland’s entry as a share­hol­der, MEDIAN has now taken over 21 indi­vi­dual clinics and clinic groups and inte­gra­ted them into the group of compa­nies. In doing so, MEDIAN is aiming for quality leader­ship in medi­cal reha­bi­li­ta­tion and is inves­t­ing heavily in the expan­sion of therapy offe­rings, in addi­tio­nal staff, in the digi­ta­liza­tion of proces­ses and in the moder­niza­tion of clinic buil­dings. Toge­ther with the new faci­lity, the Group compri­ses around 120 clinics and faci­li­ties with 18,500 beds, trea­ting more than 230,000 pati­ents annu­ally. The health­care company, which employs around 15,000 people, includes reha­bi­li­ta­tion clinics as well as acute psych­ia­tric hospi­tals, therapy centers, outpa­ti­ent clinics and reinte­gra­tion faci­li­ties in 13 German states. The company thus offers nati­on­wide coverage of so-called after­care and parti­ci­pa­tion services in all specia­list areas.

With Waterland’s support, MEDIAN plans to further conso­li­date the German reha­bi­li­ta­tion market — both in terms of expan­ding its regio­nal presence and in addi­tio­nal medi­cal special­ties. In addi­tion, MEDIAN aims to further inte­grate pati­ent pathways and to imple­ment evidence-based medi­cine even more stron­gly in its therapy offerings.

As a share­hol­der in MEDIAN, the inde­pen­dent invest­ment company Water­land Private Equity has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the health­care sector. In addi­tion to MEDIAN, the port­fo­lio in Germany includes, for exam­ple, ATOS, a group of soma­tic acute-care clinics specia­li­zing in cutting-edge ortho­pe­dic medi­cine, and the care service provi­der Schö­nes Leben Group, a service plat­form for outpa­ti­ent, inpa­ti­ent, and open geria­tric care as well as mobile services, assis­ted living, and leisure acti­vi­ties. Water­land also holds a signi­fi­cant stake in Hanse­fit, a leading network asso­cia­tion for company sports and health services with more than 1,400 affi­lia­ted fitness studios. Waterland’s port­fo­lio of compa­nies in the health­care sector was joined at the begin­ning of the year by Reha­con, where the inves­tor has alre­ady supported four acqui­si­ti­ons. Today, Reha­con is one of the leading provi­ders of physio­the­rapy services and therapy offe­rings in Europe. Nati­on­wide, the company opera­tes more than 120 therapy centers and employs over 800 people.

About Water­land
Water­land is an inde­pen­dent private equity invest­ment firm that helps compa­nies realize their growth plans. With substan­tial finan­cial support and indus­try exper­tise, Water­land enables its port­fo­lio compa­nies to achieve acce­le­ra­ted growth both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. Water­land has offices in the Nether­lands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), Germany (Hamburg, Munich), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (Manches­ter), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen) and Switz­er­land (Zurich). Curr­ently, six billion euros in equity funds are under management.