Gernmany’s Fresenius Medical to buy Euromedic’s dialysis unit for $648.5 million

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co, the world's biggest provider of kidney dialysis procedures, today disclosed that it will buy Euromedic International's dialysis service business (IDC), for $647 million (€485 million) to expand in Eastern Europe.

The proposed acquisition will give Hamburg-based Fresenius a chain of dialysis clinics in the fast-growing healthcare markets of Eastern Europe and Russia.

Headquartered in Budapest and incorporated in Amsterdam, IDC is the market leader in Eastern Europe and currently treats over 8,200 hemodialysis patients through 70 clinics in nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Euromedic, which operates more than 140 medical centres in Europe, is owned by three private-equity firms - BAML Capital Partners, Montagu Private Equity and Ares Life Sciences, which had acquired Euromedic from Warburg Pincus and GE Healthcare in 2008 for €800 million.

Fresenius, a unit of Germany's Fresenius SE is the world leader in renal therapy operating 2,700 dialysis clinics in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa and provides dialysis treatment to more than 210,000 patients globally and more than 17,000 patients in Eastern Europe.

Fresenius also makes dialysis machines, dialysers, and other supplies that are sold to hospitals and clinics and offers dialysis support services include laboratory testing, renal drug distribution, and disease management programs.