London, UK – GHO Capital, the European specialist investor in healthcare, today announces the acquisition of Linimed Gruppe (“Linimed” or “the Company”), a leading provider of outpatient intensive care services across Germany, from Vitruvian Partners and the Linimed founders.
Headquartered in Jena, Linimed Gruppe is one of the largest providers of outpatient intensive care in Germany, operating through 44 clinical care locations. The Company is the leading provider of outpatient intensive care in community settings, enabling efficient care to the highest quality standards.
The core service offering of Linimed consists of 24/7 intensive care in specialised community centres to patients with severe health problems (including neurological and neuromuscular diseases, obstructive respiratory diseases, restrictive thoracic diseases, premature birth, as well as other conditions).
The Company has approximately 1,100 employees and operates a portfolio of modern and functional facilities positioned mostly in Eastern and Central Germany. The high quality of Linimed facilities, coupled with high standards of care, has contributed to the attainment of best-in-class quality ratings.
The outpatient intensive care market in Germany currently consists of approximately 20,000 patients. Over the past five years, community care has risen from 12% to 31% of outpatient intensive care provision. Over the next five years, the overall number of patients is expected to increase to 26,000 with community care growing at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 16%.
Together with Management, GHO Capital has acquired Linimed from the original Company founders and from international investor Vitruvian Partners who have together overseen strong growth of the business since 2014. In recent years, the Company has opened a number of new built-for-purpose facilities, and has made a number of successful acquisitions, both activities that are expected to continue in the next phase of growth.
Fabian Bäuerle, Thomas Pomp and Robin Richter, Managing Directors of Linimed Gruppe, commented: “The outpatient intensive care market is primed for growth in the years to come with many exciting opportunities ahead for Linimed. We are looking forward to a successful partnership with GHO Capital and expect to benefit from their counsel and deep healthcare expertise. At the same time, we would like to thank the Linimed founders and the team at Vitruvian Partners for their generous and collaborative support over the past 4 years, during which time the Company has grown to become a leading intensive care provider in Germany.”
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP provided legal advice to GHO Capital, STRADOO provided commercial and strategic advice, Alvarez & Marsal provided financial and accounting advice, Flick Gocke Schaumburg provided tax advice, CBRE provided technical and property advice and Marlborough Partners provided debt advice.
Rothschild provided M&A advice to Vitruvian Partners and the Linimed founders, Memminger LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright and Geismar Rechtsanwälte provided legal advice, Alvarez & Marsal provided commercial advice, Deloitte provided financial, accounting and tax advice, PWC provided tax structuring advice and Howden provided insurance advice.