NPM Capital, owned by the Fenter Van Vlissingen family has acquired Harting-Bank.

Harting Bank is a major supplier to the homecare and associated markets in the Netherlands and has recently reported revenues of 80 million Euros.

The acquisition provides considerable financial strength to this already strong player. The market is expecting a consolidation in the homecare provider industry which largely comprises companies such as Welzorg (by far the largest with revenues in the 200 million euro range) as well as R. Van Seeneus/Beenhakker, German owned Meyra, Emcart and several smaller players.

Enno Perdok, Managing Director of Harting-Bank has been reported as saying that they are on the lookout for further acquisitions now that they have the financial support.

Welzorg, themselves also having been recently acquired by Industri Capital (reported here) may well be in for a challenge to its dominant position?

After having had three clients call and discuss this with me in as many days I thought it was time to try to figure it all out. So this is my (un) definitive position which I hope raises the right questions and provides at least some answers. Excuse the caveats and variables in the language but then if you are in this business you will understand why.

Just to be upfront the recommendation is going to be to invest in “change”. Identify what the change will be and buy into it. Divest companies (or management) that believe “nothing much will change”. It is not a place for the faint hearted. It is certainly not business as usual. Past performance is definitely not a reliable indicator in the homecare business today - or rather tomorrow.

The used - to - be good news was that - “Overall the macro demographic picture is very good - the aging population, of which we are all a part, is rapidly growing”. Past tense.
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The Company is based in the heart of the region and is a specialty distributor of value added medical device products.

The owners have blue chip US medical device company backgrounds in cardio vascular, orthopedics and several other specialties.

In order to help fund its expansion into the fast growing Eastern and Central European medical device markets, the company is looking for qualified investors.

This may be of particular interest to medical device companies seeking to expand their presence in the region.

Contact Frank Barlin in confidence at Sibaya Healthcare Consultants.