Waterland: Althera umbrella brand for physiotherapy chain

Gelsen­kir­chen / Hamburg — The physio­the­rapy service provi­der Reha­con , which opera­tes in more than 120 faci­li­ties nati­on­wide, has intro­du­ced a new umbrella brand, ATHERA. At the same time, majo­rity share­hol­der Water­land Private Equity is conti­nuing the buy-and-build stra­tegy at its port­fo­lio company and inte­gra­ting two more physio­the­rapy provi­ders into the group: GANTZE Zentrum für Gesund­heit and Physio­the­ra­pie Rosita Boose will in future be part of the high-growth health­care brand from Gelsen­kir­chen. The tran­sac­tions, the details of which have been agreed not to be disc­lo­sed, are expec­ted to be comple­ted in July.

ATHERA, form­erly Reha­con, has been successfully opera­ting physio­the­rapy prac­ti­ces in Germany for more than 25 years and has become one of Germany’s leading provi­ders in the field of physio­the­rapy and reha­bi­li­ta­tion, employ­ing nearly 1,000 people. The Group’s new umbrella brand stands for a uniform promise of quality for pati­ents and employees; the gradual roll-out of the new image will be flan­ked by targe­ted invest­ments in the infra­struc­ture of the faci­li­ties and the expan­sion of the service port­fo­lio. The inde­pen­dent invest­ment company Water­land had joined the company about a year ago; since then, the group has grown by six acquisitions.

Water­land is now conti­nuing this dyna­mic growth course and is making two further add-on acqui­si­ti­ons with ATHERA: GANTZE Zentrum für Gesund­heit, based in Wert­in­gen, Bava­ria, covers reha­bi­li­ta­tion programs and preven­tion cour­ses with a broad service port­fo­lio in addi­tion to the areas of physio­the­rapy, hand therapy and occu­pa­tio­nal therapy. Physio­the­rapy Rosita Boose is also one of the market leaders in her region (Halle, Saale). In addi­tion to the physio­the­rapy services with a focus on manual therapy, the prac­tice offers a wide range of preven­tion courses.

“Through the acqui­si­ti­ons, we are streng­thening our prac­tice network in southern and eastern Germany and expan­ding our range of services in important key areas,” says ATHERA CEO Albrecht Grell. “The new part­ners thus join a group that has been able to faci­li­tate the smooth conti­nua­tion of prac­ti­ces for the bene­fit of pati­ents and staff, espe­ci­ally during a chal­len­ging time like the Corona lock­down that is behind us. In the Corona crisis, the strength of our large network of prac­ti­ces and the high level of commit­ment of our employees were again clearly demons­tra­ted. For exam­ple, employees were gran­ted paid special leave for child­care and short-time allo­wan­ces were topped up. Stron­ger prac­ti­ces supported those that strug­g­led more.”

Dr. Cars­ten Rahlfs, Mana­ging Part­ner of Water­landadds: “Buy-and-build stra­te­gies pursue the idea of crea­ting market leaders. Through our focu­sed approach, we have built an excel­lently posi­tio­ned group of compa­nies that is strong enough to make acqui­si­ti­ons even in diffi­cult times. We stand by contracts nego­tia­ted before the Covid 19 pande­mic without compro­mise and look forward to the two new part­ners in our group. GANTZE Center for Health and Physio­the­rapy Rosita Boose will become part of a company that conti­nues to streng­then through a large network of experts, exch­an­ges with each other and the in-house trai­ning faci­lity ATHERA Academy.”

Water­land has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in the health­care market. In addi­tion to MEDIAN, the leading private provi­der in Germany with more than 120 reha­bi­li­ta­tion clinics, the company port­fo­lio in this sector also includes the ATOS clinic group, which specia­li­zes in ortho­pe­dics, the care service provi­der Schö­nes Leben, and the sports and fitness aggre­ga­tor Hansefit.

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 United King­dom (Manches­ter), Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen) and Switz­er­land (Zurich). Curr­ently, six billion euros in equity funds are under management.

Water­land has consis­t­ently outper­for­med its invest­ments since its foun­ding in 1999 and has regu­larly ranked among the top three leading private equity firms world­wide in past HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Perfor­mance Rankings.