December 7 (SeeNews) - Romanian privately-owned medical services provider MedLife has launched an initial public offering (IPO) on the Bucharest bourse, BVB, hoping to raise up to 308 million lei ($73.3 million/68.4 million euro) through the sale of a 44% stake.
Subscription for the shares will run from December 7 to December 15.
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MedLife is offering investors 8.8 million shares with a nominal value of maximum 35 lei. Some 85% of the offering will target institutional investors, BVB said in a press release.
Private equity fund Value4Capital (V4C) will sell its entire stake of 36.25% in MedLife, while the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will proceed with a partial exit of its current 12.75% holding in the company.
Following the offering, the Marcu family, who founded the healthcare network, will hold an interest of 51% in MedLife’s share capital and IFC will hold a minimum interest of 5%. The free float is expected to be up to 44%, the company added.
"Through this offering, investors will have access to a unique opportunity to invest in the leader of the private healthcare market in Romania and one of the large providers of private healthcare services in Central and Eastern Europe, to get exposure to the highest growing private healthcare market in CEE and to be part of an amazing journey that started 20 years ago and is far from over,” the company's managing board president Mihai Marcu said at the end of November.
Raiffeisen Bank S.A.has been appointed as lead global coordinator and lead joint bookrunner for the offering, while WOOD & Company Financial Services a.s.has been appointed co-global coordinator and joint bookrunner.
MedLife has been considering the listing for some three years, as an alternative in case it fails to find a new investor to buy V4C’s stake.
As of September 30, MedLife operated 36 clinics, 8 general and specialist hospitals, 24 laboratories with more than 143 sampling points, nine pharmacies, eight dental offices and served over a half million clients of healthcare prevention packages throughout Romania.
MedLife's net profit plummeted 99.5% on the year in the first nine months of 2016 to 43,138 lei, while its turnover of jumped 27% to 361.4 million lei, data posted on BVB's website showed.
In March, the company said it plans to spend 56 million euro by the autumn of 2017 on acquisitions and mergers, as well as on two new clinics and a hospital. The company signed a credit agreement for the full amount of the planned investment with a syndicate of banks led by Banca Comerciala Romana, BCR, which also includes ING Bank, Raiffeisen Bank and BRD-Groupe Societe Generale.
Earlier this year, MedLife took over local dental clinics network Dent Estet for an undisclosed sum and local laboratories and clinics network Diamed Center for 3 million euro.
In 2015, MedLife bought a majority stake in the group of companies SAMA & Ultratest, the stem cell bank Stem Cells Bank, the Prima Medical Center in Craiova, and two laboratories in Iasi and Constanta.
MedLife's expansion began in 2010 when it bought 80% of Policlinica de Diagnostic Rapid group in Brasov for 3 million euro. In 2012, MedLife bought Genesys Arad medical group and Eva Maternity in Brasov.
(1 euro =4.5007 lei)