ARX seals Slovenian healthcare deal

ARX Equity Partners, a CEE-focused firm, has teamed up with healthcare investor Joseph Priel to buy Slovenian healthcare services provider Diagnosticni Center Bled doo (DCB).

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but the enterprise value was approximately €10 million. ARX has also earmarked additional financings for add-ons, some of which already identified, according to a source familiar with the matter. ARX declined to comment.

DCB is one of the largest private healthcare service provider in Slovenia. DCB performs more than 20,000 specialist examinations each year, primarily in the areas of gastroenterology and urology. ARX acquired DCB in order to utilize its existing business as a platform to further consolidate and grow its leading position in the Slovenian diagnostics sector, the firm said.

DCB is the fourth ARX acquisition in Slovenia, as the firm has previously acquired Donit Tesnit in 2006, Tomplast in 2007 and its add-on Unitplast in 2008. DCB is ARX’s second healthcare services buy-and-build transaction. ARX previously acquired Lexum – a Czech operator of ophthalmology clinics – which later completed a complementary add-on in Poland.

ARX is currently investing its ARX CEE III, a €102 million 2008-vintage, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division. Last January, the firm used the fund to acquire Gramex 2000, a Hungarian manufacturer and bottler of non-alcoholic beverages. That was the seventh investment from the fund.

In 2013, the firm used this fund to back Czech Republic-based financial advisory firm Fin Centrum, according to its website. Depending on the deal size, the fund can make two to three additional investments, Radil Stefovski, an investment director at ARX, told PEI last year.

The investment in DCB comes as ARX is planning to raise €125m for its ARX CEE IV, the source added. The fund, which will focus on CEE, will have a bias towards the Czech Republic, where ARX has historically been most active.