Rhoen-Klinikum AG (RHK.XE) shareholders should expect to benefit
financially from the sale of several hospitals to German healthcare
company Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FRE.XE), its chairman said
Sunday.
"The shareholders will naturally profit financially from the
sale ," Eugen Muench, chairman of the board of Rhoen-Klinikum and a
major shareholder, told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine
Sonntagszeitung in an article published Sunday. Mr. Muench owns 12%
of Rhoen-Klinikum shares, according to the article.
Fresenius said Friday its Helios unit acquired several hospitals
from Rhoen-Klinikum in a deal that will make Helios the largest
private hospital operator in Europe. Fresenius will pay 3.07
billion euros ($4.08 billion) for the assets and expects the
acquisition to generate yearly sales of approximately EUR2 billion
and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization,
or Ebitda, of around EUR250 million.
Last year Fresenius was forced to abandon an attempt to take
over Rhoen-Klinikum entirely as the privately held hospital group
Asklepios snapped up shares in Rhoen--effectively stifling the
deal. In June, Rhoen-Klinikum shareholders voted to change the
company's strict voting-threshold statutes, making the company more
vulnerable to takeovers.
Newspaper website: http://www.faz.net
-Write to the Frankfurt Bureau at
djnews.frankfurt@dowjones.com
(Shane Strowmatt contributed to this article.)
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires