To sell Vamed's Austrian operations for 90 mln eur (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Berlin, 08 May - The German healthcare group Fresenius said that following the announcement of the sale of Vamed's rehabilitation business, it has initiated winding down of it Austrian unit Vamed.

An Austrian consortium, comprising the construction companies Porr and Strabag, has agreed to acquire Vamed's activities in Austria for 90 million euros. The transaction includes Vamed's entities responsible for the technical management of Vienna general hospital, AKH Wien, the Austrian project business that is part of Vamed's Health Tech Engineering segment and shares in several spas throughout Austria.

Vamed's high-end services (HES) business unit, which provides services for Fresenius Helios and other hospitals, will be transferred to Fresenius. HES generates around half of its revenue through its provision of services to Helios hospitals.

"HES is a stable business with good growth prospects and accounts for around 30% of Vamed's revenue. The profitability of HES is in the mid-single-digit percentage range," Fresenius said.

The health tech engineering segment, which is responsible for the international project business and accounts for around 15% of Vamed's revenue, "will gradually be scaled back in an orderly manner. The process should largely be completed by 2026," it added.

The divestments lead to non-cash special items of around 0.6 billion euros. "Due to the exit from the project business, higher three-digit-million special items are expected, which are spread over the next few years and mostly cash relevant," it added.

As of the second quarter 2024, Vamed will no longer be a reporting segment of Fresenius. "In addition to reducing complexity, this step will improve the group's profitability by more than 50 basis points. It will also reduce net debt and increase the group's return on invested capital (ROIC).

Last but not least, the transparency and quality of earnings will be significantly enhanced," according to Fresenius. After exiting Vamed, Fresenius will consist of the two operating companies Fresenius Kabi and Fresenius Helios, both fully owned, and the investment company Fresenius Medical Care, in which the group has a 32% stake.

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(RADIOCOR) 08-05-24 12:58:47 (0364) 5 NNNN