News

Waterland Private Equity is acquiring a majority stake in Rehacon, a German provider of physiotherapy services. No financial terms were disclosed. The deal is expected to close by March 2019.

PRESS RELEASE

Gelsenkirchen/Hamburg, 24 January 2019 – Waterland Private Equity is acquiring a majority holding in Rehacon GmbH, one of the leading enterprises in the field of physiotherapy services in Germany. Rehacon is headquartered in Gelsenkirchen, from where it runs more than 100 therapy centres, making it one of the largest providers on the market in continental Europe. The vast majority of Rehacon’s over 600 employees work directly with patients in the local therapy centres, helping the group to generate annual turnover of around 36 million euros. The shares are being sold by Reeder Invest GmbH, whose Managing Director Michael Reeder will retain a significant stake in Rehacon. Mr. Reeder, the company’s founder, will also continue to head it. The transaction is envisaged to be completed by March 2019, subject to approval by the competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt. The parties agreed that no details of the transaction would be disclosed.

“In Waterland, we have found the best partner to accelerate our growth. Their team has far-reaching experience in our market, an extremely strong network and shares our values. The next steps will be decisive: we will take them quickly, and do so together,” explains Michael Reeder. After qualifying as a physiotherapist, Reeder opened his first practice in Gelsenkirchen in 1992, and began adding further therapy centres from 1998 onwards, laying the foundations for Rehacon.

“We are pleased to be able to play our part as growth partner for Rehacon, a top-performing provider of physiotherapy treatments,” says Dr Carsten Rahlfs, Managing Partner at Waterland. “With its efficient administration, Rehacon is ideally positioned to participate in the ongoing consolidation within the highly fragmented market for physiotherapy centres while adhering to the highest quality standards.”

Moving forward together, Waterland and Rehacon now intend to add more therapy centres to the group and realise the potential for further growth, for instance by focussing more strongly on complex care, establishing a single overarching umbrella brand and expanding strategic partnerships with hospitals. Expansion into other countries is also envisaged over the medium term. “We are pursuing a clear buy-and-build approach with Rehacon, as we have with other companies. We want the firm to continue to grow by adding further therapy centres to its existing administration structure and we want it to strengthen its position on the market. Thanks to our existing investments in the market, such as in MEDIAN, ATOS and Schönes Leben, we are able to exploit synergies between these companies and press ahead together for further growth,” continues Dr Rahlfs.

Rehacon founder Michael Reeder adds: “I am happy to have found an investor who will give the company both financial and strategic support. Waterland’s industry-specific expertise in the health sector will be an additional benefit to Rehacon as the market for physiotherapy develops dynamically.”

Waterland Private Equity has extensive experience in the health market. The companies currently forming part of its portfolio include MEDIAN, for example, which has more than 120 rehabilitation clinics, making it the leading private provider in Germany. Others in the portfolio are the ATOS group of clinics specialising in orthopaedics, the care provider Schönes Leben and two groups of specialist medical practices. Waterland also has a holding in Hansefit, a leading sports network group for business customers that has more than 1,400 affiliated fitness studios.

About Waterland
Waterland is an independent private equity investment group that supports companies in realizing their growth ambitions. With substantial financial resources and committed industry expertise, Waterland enables its portfolio companies to achieve accelerated growth both organically and through acquisitions. Waterland has offices in the Netherlands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), Germany (Munich and Hamburg), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (Manchester), Denmark (Copenhagen) and Switzerland (Zurich) and currently manages EUR 6 billion of investor commitments.

Since its founding in 1999, Waterland has consistently achieved top tier investment performance. It has regularly reached the global Top 3 private equity firms in recent HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Performance Rankings. In addition, Waterland also ranked regularly among the Top 3 consistently performing buyout fund managers worldwide in Preqin Consistent Performers in

Global Private Equity & Venture Capital Report.
Waterland Private Equity Investments B.V. is registered as a fund manager in the register maintained by the Dutch regulator, the AFM (Autoriteit Financiële Markten).