SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Sonic Healthcare Limited, one of the largest medical diagnostics companies in the world, has announced its acquisition of Medical Laboratories Duesseldorf (MLD), a leading clinical laboratory in the capital of Germany’s most populous state.
The laboratory is expected to generate revenues of approximately €50 million in FY2024 and employs around 300 staff, including 13 pathologists.
Medical Laboratories Duesseldorfoperates a highly efficient hub-and-spoke infrastructure around its central laboratory and several branch and hospital sites across the Duesseldorf metropolitan region.
The laboratory, founded in 1968, will be led by three pathologist partners and their team, who will continue to work closely with Sonic’s federation of laboratories in Germany. The laboratories cover all relevant specialist disciplines across laboratory medicine, with a particularly strong focus on service provision to hospitals.
The purchase price of €180 million (cash and debt free) will be funded in Euro from Sonic’s existing cash and debt facilities, with most of the purchase price being tax deductible in Germany over 15 years as goodwill amortisation.
The transaction is expected to occur before the end of the 2023 calendar year, subject to customary closing conditions, including medical regulatory approvals. Dr Colin Goldschmidt, CEO of Sonic Healthcare, said that the acquisition continues the company’s focus on accretive expansion in the German market.
He warmly welcomed the pathologists and staff of Medical Laboratories Duesseldorf into Sonic Healthcare’s worldwide team and said that the combination with MLD in the West of Germany would further enhance the company’s offering to clinicians and their patients in this important region of the country. While an important strategic step for Sonic Healthcare Germany, the transaction is not considered to be material for Sonic Healthcare Limited.
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