THE north’s biggest private hospital owner Kingsbridge Healthcare Group is seeking an investment injection and could be sold as a going concern.
A team of healthcare advisers from PwC in London has been appointed in a bid to attract new equity into the company, which was established in 2006 as 352 Healthcare.
And any transaction - which should attract considerable interest - is likely to be valued at around £300 million.
But it is understood a sale will only progress if the founders and the board are convinced that the legacy of what has been achieved over the last 17 years is protected and enhanced.
Staff and consultants at the group - which owns four hospitals providing a broad range of acute care services, as well as 11 clinical facilities - were told of the plans in an internal memo seen by The Irish News.
The memo says: “In 2019, investors from 57 Stars and Foresight approached us with an investment strategy and provided seed funding to assist with our growth plans, and thanks to their investment and your hard work, we have become the largest private hospital group in Northern Ireland.
“With the acquisition of Kingsbridge Sligo in 2015, we are now the only hospital group on the island of Ireland with hospitals on both sides of the border.
“The board have invested heavily in our assets, including infrastructure, equipment, and services, positioning us to embark on the next phase of what promises to be an exciting journey. This involves further strategic development projects in Sligo and Belfast.”
It adds: “We have a vibrant, energetic, and ambitious senior management team embedded in the culture of what the group is all about, and together we will move to deliver the next chapter in this incredible company.
“But this will require further significant investment, and plans are in place to proactively pursue this objective commencing in January 2024.”
The memo goes on to say that the outcome of the transaction “should provide incredible professional opportunities for everyone in the group, and we would like you to continue this journey with us”.
Kingsbridge Healthcare Group (KHG) has annual revenues of £150 million and a profit of around £30 million.
The group - whose motto is “where luxury care meets medical excellence in a harmonious blend of healthcare and hospitality” - carries out more than 25,000 procedures every year.
KHG has been on a stellar growth trajectory in recent years.
Last October it announced the opening of the new Liz Dallas Outpatients Centre at its north west hospital in Ballykelly, which it had acquired 16 months earlier.
Named after the longest serving employee in the original hospital, that was part of an overall £6 million investment in Kingsbridge’s facilities, and it created an additional 80 jobs in the area.
It followed that up this summer by opening a £2.25 million specialist eye clinic in Ballykelly, aimed at those who require cataract or oculoplastic surgery.
A spokesman for the group said: “Since our inception, we have all made a real difference to the people of the island of Ireland. This is something of which we are all proud and understandably protective.”
