LGV Capital has agreed to sell Classic Hospitals Group (Classic Hospitals) to Spire Healthcare for £145 million, furnishing private equity giant Cinven with a new addition to its healthcare portfolio.

LGV Capital has agreed to sell Classic Hospitals Group (Classic Hospitals) to Spire Healthcare for £145 million, furnishing private equity giant Cinven with a new addition to its healthcare portfolio.

The bolt-on acquisition comes just six months after Cinven’s landmark purchase of BUPA’s hospital and assets for £1.44 billion in August, upon completion of which BUPA Hospitals became known as Spire Healthcare.

The acquired entity, Classic Hospitals, is the UK’s sixth largest private acute hospital operator, citing approximately 370 beds across ten sites. These are Clare Park in Farnham, Dunedin in Reading, Elland in Halifax, Fylde Coast in Blackpool, Hull and East Riding in Hull, Lourdes in Liverpool, Methley Park in Wakefield, Regency in Macclesfield, St Saviours in Hythe and Yale in Wrexham. 

The company was acquired by LGV in July 2005 for £85 million. The acquisition, comprising nine BUPA hospitals, required the assembly of a management team and the establishment of a head office, creating the Classic Hospitals brand. Classic Hospitals purchased LourdesHospital in Liverpool from a religious order a year later.

Under LGV, Classic Hospitals has invested £23 million in updating existing facilities and increased revenues by 19 per cent to £94 million in the year to December 2007.

Cinven, also controller of allergy and autoimmunity diagnostics firm Phadia, and private healthcare operator, USP Hospitales, has identified opportunities to improve operational efficiency as well as for organic growth at The Hospitals Group. The firm will be seeking to invest significantly in the operations and skill-sets within the business over the coming years in order to drive organic growth and broaden the group’s service offering. The Hospitals Group will also be seeking new sources of revenue through its traditional private medical insurance customers as well as working in partnership with the NHS.