June 28 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) said on Wednesday it is lending 15 million euro ($16.9 million) to support the expansion of Romanian private healthcare network Regina Maria.
This agreement is backed by a guarantee of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the bank said in a press release.
Regina Maria will upgrade and expand its network of outpatient and inpatient facilities mainly outside the capital city of Bucharest through the construction and renovation of two hospitals and 15 outpatient centres, including polyclinics, laboratories and imaging centres. The expansion project will lead to the creation of about 2,000 new jobs.
"In the past seven years, Regina Maria has made CAPEX investments of over 70 million euro in expansion, modernisation and new technology acquisition," Regina Maria CEO Fady Chreih said.
In March, Regina Maria projected a 30% rise in its annual turnover in 2017 to 118.3 million euro, backed by both organic growth and acquisitions.
In February, the healthcare provider said it has invested 2 million euro since the beginning of 2017 in a new polyclinic in Bucharest and in the acquisition of local peers Al-Medica Berlin and Ixia Medical. Its expansion plan for the beginning of the year also included the acquisition of two Romanian healthcare services providers.
Regina Maria was founded in 1995 under the name CMU. In 2010 it merged with Euroclinic, part of Dutch-based financial services group Eureko, and changed its name. Currently, it operates 35 polyclinics, four hospitals, eight medical campuses and 180 clinics in Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov, Constanta, Bacau and Pitest and has 3,500 employees, according to data published on the corporate website.
($= 0.8881 euro)