POLIKUM

Invested:
December 2009

Exited:
December 2014

Return:
0.2x MoC

Sector:
Healthcare

Stage:
Early (non-core strategy)

Headquarters:
Berlin, Germany

Region:
Germany

Business:
Operator of Outpatient Healthcare Centres

Business at time of investment

POLIKUM managed three Outpatient Health Centres (“OHC”) in Berlin.  These centres provide ambulatory general medicine and other specialities like childcare, physiotherapy and cardiology to statutory patients.  The current three OHCs employ over 205 physicians, nurses and support staff.

Investment rationale

The provision of cost efficient medical services has been the major focus of the German health authorities since 2004 when the German health authorities launched a series of reforms to improve efficiency and reduce costs.  The majority of these reforms were designed to promote cooperative network structures in the less cost-intensive outpatient care setting.  Outpatient Health Clinics (OHCs) were introduced in 2004 for this purpose and have rapidly grown in numbers since.  At acquisition, there were more than 1,200 OHCs, which employ around 5,000 physicians out of a total of over 125,000 in Germany.

POLIKUM focused on public healthcare and together with a handful of other multi-site OHCs, pioneered the German outpatient market.  Palamon’s objective was to build the business and create the leading German OHC operator.

Value creation

• Regional expansion: Set up a second regional cluster in Leipzig by acquiring outpatient rehabilitation clinic Medica in May 2010 and acquiring a small diabetes clinic in November 2010.

• Strengthened management capabilities: CFO, Chairman of the board and experienced Group Commercial Managing Director.

• Enhanced operational efficiency.

At exit

POLIKUM had established several German regional clusters to complement its original outpatient healthcare centre, including an OHC in Leipzig. It employed around 500 staff.