Mergers & Acquisitions in Greece 3/3/2019

The number of mergers and acquisitions in Greece increased sharply last year, according to a report by consultancy PwC, reflecting growing business activity in the country.

In 2018, Greek corporates engaged in 51 M&A deals worth a combined €3.8 billion, compared with 39 transactions worth a total of €1.9 billion a year earlier.

  Investing in Greek Healthcare

Foreign investors have been acquiring leading private hospitals in Greece, banking on the sector’s growth potential and the country’s status as a regional hub in health and life sciences.

In the past two years, leading private equity fund CVC Capital Partners – one of the largest private equity funds in the world -- has acquired the Metropolitan Hospital based in the southern suburbs of Athens, and the Ygeia hospital group based in the northern suburbs. It has also acquired one of the hospitals belonging to the IASO health group and is currently in the process of buying a second.

 Last spring, San Francisco-based Farallon Capital, another private equity fund, raised its stake in Greece’s Euromedica group to 17.5% after acquiring €200 million in the company’s debt from local Greek banks.

More recently, a tender for the former Red Cross-owned Henry Dunant hospital – now controlled by Piraeus Bank – drew strong interest from several foreign investors, including Farallon Capital and the United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company.

As it is, Greece is already a major hub for both R&D and testing in life sciences research.

With six doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, Greece has the highest per capita ratio of doctors in the OECD and the sector commands almost one-fifth of total research and development spending in the country, well above the European average.

 Greece serves as a regional hub for clinical trials of new pharmaceutical products, and its dozens of local pharmaceutical producers are leading exporters – particularly in generics -- to the rest of Southeast Europe.

Overall, the Greek pharmaceutical and life sciences sector accounts for 3.5% of GDP and €1 billion worth of exports.

Many industry experts say that Greece’s health sector also holds future prospects in new areas as well.

These include a growing role for medical tourism and, by leveraging the country’s warm climate and Mediterranean location, Greece could also draw seniors from across Europe and become a leading provider of long-term care and services for the elderly.

Source (Feb. 2019): ENTERPRISE GREECE