Dentons — working alongside Bulgaria’s Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov — has advised the shareholders on the sale of 100% of City Hospitals and Clinics AD in Bulgaria to Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri ve Ticaret A.S (Acibadem).The Esin Attorney Partnership — the Turkish member firm of Baker & McKenzie international — advised Acibadem on the acquisition, as well as on its simultaneous acquisition of the Bulgaria-based Tokuda Hospital, and its merger of the two.
The Acibadem Healthcare Group has been a leading private provider of diagnostic and treatment services in Turkey since 1991. Acibadem has 18 general-purpose hospitals (including 1 in Macedonia), 1 hospital management agreement in Iraq, 13 outpatient facilities and support services companies, and a team of more than 18,000 employees and 3,100 physicians. According to the Esin Attorney Partnership, the acquisition of City Hospitals and Clinics and the merger of them with Tokuda Hospital, “will create the largest private healthcare provider in Bulgaria and one of the leading healthcare institutions in Central and Eastern Europe.” The firm also notes that, “the deal is also an example of a new trend of Turkish companies investing outside of Turkey.”
The operating partners of City Clinic will roll over their stake into the new combined entity. Subsequent to all the transactions, Acibadem will hold 76.5% of the newly created holding company’s share capital, and certain of City Clinic’s shareholders will hold the remaining 23.5%.
City Clinic, founded in 2010, is a leading high-quality integrated healthcare provider in Bulgaria, operating in Sofia, Varna and Burgas. It operates three hospitals and three outpatient centers, among which is the only Joint Commission International-accredited hospital in Bulgaria. Following the opening of its new cancer center, City Clinic has dominated the market for both cardiovascular and cancer care in the country. City Clinic’s Sofia hospital is a teaching hospital supported by two leading medical schools, combining high-quality clinical service with education and research.
“We are very proud to have been able to support City Hospitals and Clinics AD in a major transaction which contributes to the improvement of healthcare in Bulgaria,” commented Dentons Partner and Co-Chair of Dentons’ Global Private Equity Group Rob Irving, who led his firm’s team on the deal. “This deal showcases Dentons’ capabilities in major cross-border transactions throughout the CEE/SEE region, as well as in highly specialized and regulated sectors such as healthcare.”
“I am proud,” commented Esin Attorney Partnership Partner Eren Kursun, the Head of the firm’s M&A and Private Equity practice, “to have played a role in the inception of a partnership that will create a leading healthcare group in the CEE region and I am proud two have led a team of talented lawyers who managed to have these two transactions signed simultaneously despite the complexity involved. We were one team operating in five different time zones to get things done.”
Irving was supported by Dentons Associates Orsolya Szabo, Ivan Jelocnik, and Christopher Colclough. The Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov team included Partner Zdravka Ugrinova and Associate Gergana Monovska.
Kursun’s team at the Esin Attorney Partnership was supported by Baker & McKenzie colleagues in the firm’s Amsterdam, Dubai, London, and Tokyo offices.
Editor’s Note: After this story was published, Djingov, Gouginski, Kyutchukov & Velichkov announced that — working through a Chinese wall — it had served as local counsel both to City Hospitals and Clinics and to Acibadem on the deal, working alongside Dentons and the Esin Attorney Partnership (and Baker & McKenzie), respectively. Partner Georgi Tzvetkov led the team working alongside Baker & McKenzie in advising Acibadem, while — as already reported in the original story — Partner Zdravka Ugrinova worked with Dentons in advising City Hospitals and Clinics.
