One of Europe’s largest outpatient imaging providers has scored $216 million (USD) to continue fueling its rapid growth.
Netherlands-based Affidea announced the new term loan on Tuesday, adding to its current pot of nearly $835 million in available funds. The radiology group executed 14 acquisitions across eight countries in 2023, adding 24 new imaging centers to its network.
“The success of this capital injection represents a vote of confidence in our strategy, in our operational and financial performance and strong business model,” Affidea Chairman and CEO Guy Blomfield said in a Feb. 27 announcement. “This new credit line provides us with the flexibility to capitalize on our strategic initiatives and to accelerate our expansion plans …”
Affidea’s 2023 additions spanned eight countries including Switzerland, the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania. It also executed nine “greenfield investments” (building new facilities from the ground up in other nations) last year in Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Greece.
Blomfield and colleagues continue to consider other smaller “bolt-on” acquisitions to enhance the company’s scale. Already in 2024, Affidea has expanded in five of its core countries with three acquisitions in Italy, Spain and Romania, along with two greenfields in Portugal and Switzerland. Altogether, the radiology group now operates 355 centers in 15 countries servicing 13 million patients annually.
Founded in 1991, European investment firm Groupe Bruxelles Lambert acquired the company in 2022 from Switzerland’s wealthiest individual, Ernesto Bertarelli. At the time, it committed to invest upward of $1.1 billion into the imaging group.
BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs and KKR jointly arranged the new credit line, according to the announcement.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.