Turkey’s Acıbadem Buys Bulgaria’s Tokuda Hospital, Enters City Clinic Group

Turkey’s Acıbadem Sağlık Hizmetleri ve Ticaret, a subsidiary of IHH Healthcare Berhad, Asia’s largest healthcare company, has struck two deals in Bulgaria worth a total of EUR 76 M, IHH has said.

Acibadem had entered into a deal to buy 100% of issued and outstanding shares of Tokushukai-Sofia EOOD and its subsidiaries (Tokuda Group), for EUR 65 M, IHH said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange on Thursday.

At the same time, IHH has acquired almost a third of Bulgaria’s City Clinic from its existing operating partners for almost EUR 11 M.

The remaining stake in City Clinic will be rolled over into a new combined entity, in which Acibadem will hold a stake of 76.5% and City Clinic operating partners will own the remainder.

After the acquisition, Acibadem will become the leading private healthcare operator in Bulgaria with four hospitals with a total of 750 beds and four medical centres.

“We will focus on the development of medical tourism as this business is still underdeveloped in Bulgaria. We will aim to attract customers from the former Soviet Union countries as well as the Middle East," Reuters quoted Angel Angelov, one of City Clinic's shareholders, as saying.

Tokuda Group is the largest private healthcare services provider by revenue in Bulgaria. It operates a hospital, an outpatient medical centre, an international standard clinical research centre, a pharmacy and a hospice in Sofia.

City Clinic Group, founded in 2010, is a leading high-quality integrated healthcare provider in Bulgaria, operating in Sofia, Varna and Burgas. It operates three hospitals and three outpatient centres.