December 20 (SeeNews) - Romanian privately-owned medical services provider MedLife [BSE: M] said on Wednesday it has increased its share capital by 67.56 million lei ($17.3 million/14.6 million euro).
MedLife will use the funds to fulfil objectives proposed to its shareholders in the medium term, while continuing to target a significantly larger growth than that of the market, both by organic development as well as through acquisitions, it said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Some 753,082 shares were subscribed for by shareholders and a further 1.3 million shares were offered within a private placement.
The price of shares offered by private placement was set at 33 lei per share. The shareholders that expressed their preference right will benefit from a 0.25 lei discount per share, paying a price of 32.75 lei.
MedLife's net profit surged to 9.55 million lei in the nine months through September from 43,138 lei in the year-ago period. The increase was mainly due to a rise in the operating profit, which leaped 154% on the year to 29.1 million lei. Turnover increased by 27% on the year to 459.1 million lei, led by a significant growth in all business lines, mainly the dental, clinics and hospital segments and by acquisitions made in the last two years.
MedLife made the first of a series of acquisitions in 2011 by buying a majority stake in the PDR Brasov group of companies. Seven years later, the company has successfully completed 17 acquisitions, the last one being local private healthcare operator Polisano.
In December 2016, MedLife raised 230 million lei through a fully subscribed initial public offering of a 44% stake.
MedLife shares traded 3.61% higher at 34.4 lei on the BVB as at 1014 CET on Wednesday.
(1 euro=4.6210 lei)