Germany's Bonitas and Median to join run of health services deals -sources

By Arno Schuetze

FRANKFURT, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Germany's fragmented healthcare services sector is poised to continue its recent consolidation with imminent sales of Bonitas Holding and Median Kliniken, sources close to the matter said.

France's LVL Medical has put home care provider Bonitas up for sale with the help of investment bank Rothschild, three sources told Reuters, adding that Triton, Nordic Capital, Advent and GHO Capital have been shortlisted as potential buyers with an expected valuation of 250-300 million euros ($283 million to $340 million).

Private equity investor Waterland, meanwhile, has shortlisted suitors in an auction for Median Kliniken, Germany's largest private-sector chain of post-acute care clinics, three other sources said. The proposed sale could be worth about 1 billion euros, they added.

German healthcare services are still dominated by municipal or church-run clinics and regionally-focused companies, but consolidation efforts have been gathering pace in search of economies of scale to rein in costs.

Among other deals, Casa Reha was bought by French peer Korian, buyout firm Nordic Capital agreed to buy nursing home operator Alloheim, and Carlyle invested in clinic chain Schoen. Private equity investors typically seek to build their portfolio companies through a series of acquisitions before selling them on several years later.

For Median, buyout groups PAI, I Squared Capital and Brookfield are expected to submit revised bids by the end of November, with final bids due next year, the sources said.

Median is expected to post earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about 95 million euros this year and could be valued at 10-12 times that, in line with peers, they said.

With Median planning an acquisition of its own and also targeting cost cuts in its catering operations, its EBITDA is expected to rise to between 115 million euros and 120 million euros next year, one of the sources said.

Bonitas said in a statement that its French owner, LVL Medical, hopes to find a buyer for the business in the coming months. An LVL representative was not available for comment.

Waterland declined to comment and the named suitors of the two companies either declined to comment or had no one available to comment. ($1 = 0.8821 euros) (Additional reporting by Dasha Afanasieva Editing by David Goodman)