4 Febraury 2008
LGV Capital ("LGV") has agreed to sell Classic Hospitals Group ("Classic Hospitals"), the UK’s sixth largest private acute hospital operator, to Spire Healthcare (formerly BUPA Hospitals), which is controlled by funds managed by Cinven Limited, for £145 million.
Classic Hospitals owns and operates ten high quality private acute hospitals. These are Clare Park in Farnham, Dunedin in Reading, Elland in Halifax, Fylde Coast in Blackpool, Hull and East Riding in Hull, Lourdes in Liverpool, Methley Park in Wakefield, Regency in Macclesfield, St Saviours in Hythe and Yale in Wrexham. Collectively Classic Hospitals has approximately 370 beds and employs over 2,000 staff.
LGV acquired nine hospitals from BUPA in July 2005 for £85 million, and Classic Hospitals purchased Lourdes Hospital in Liverpool from a religious order a year later. The acquisition from BUPA was complex and to effect it LGV assembled a management team, established a head office and created the Classic Hospitals brand, while initially relying on a transitional services agreement with BUPA.
Since LGV’s acquisition, Classic Hospitals has invested £23 million in updating the existing facilities. This investment has been rewarded with revenues increasing by 19 per cent to £94m in the year to December 2007.
Commenting on the sale, Michael O’Donnell, a Managing Director of LGV said, "The Classic Hospitals investment played to our strengths: taking on a complex and challenging transaction but in a fundamentally attractive sector, and adding value through investing in operational improvements and acquisitions. We are grateful to management and staff for their hard work in helping to achieve this successful outcome."
