After Romania, Provectus expands into Bulgaria with healthcare investment

After it entered the Romanian market last month, Croatia's Provectus Capital Partners has now expanded into Bulgaria with an acquisition of a majority stake in a local diversified private healthcare platform.

In a press release on Friday, Provectus said it had signed an agreement to partner with Bulgaria's INVENIO Partners to buy a majority holding in the healthcare platform, comprising the Haelan network of five outpatient medical centres, leading paediatric clinic First Children's Consultative Clinic, and two hospitals, Skin Systems and City Clinic St George.

The transaction includes a capital increase to fund the platform's next phase of growth, alongside a partial share sale by existing shareholders led by INVENIO, which will remain a significant minority shareholder.

The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals.

The healthcare platform, Provectus said, brings together Bulgaria's largest outpatient network and two complementary hospitals, which together employ about 650 professionals and generate more than €20 million in annual revenues.

"This investment represents an important milestone for Provectus as our first investment in Bulgaria and reflects our conviction in the long-term potential of the country's private healthcare sector … Over the past several years, we have built deep expertise in executing buy-and-build strategies in private healthcare, successfully developing one of Croatia's leading healthcare groups. We believe many of the value creation levers that proved successful there are equally applicable to these businesses," said Marko Galić, partner at Povectus.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In June, Southeast Europe-focused Provectus signed a deal to buy a majority stake in Bucharest-headquartered occupational health and safety (OHS) services provider Seatbelt Consulting, marking its first investment in Romania and the OHS sector.

Meanwhile, Provectus agreed to sell a 50% stake in Adria Dental Group, the largest dental services platform in Southeast Europe, to  Slovenia's private equity investor Advance Capital Partners.

Provectus has raised more than €250 million in capital and built a portfolio of eight companies, supported by over 40 add-on acquisitions. It operates through three offices, reflecting its expanded regional footprint and consolidation strategy.