Clinique Développement

The goal is for the combined entity to develop a leading healthcare offering in its region focused predominantly on post-acute and rehabilitation care and on surgery. A company owned by close to 400 employees has been incorporated for the business combination, to which Crédit Mutuel Equity, a subsidiary of the Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale group and a longstanding partner, is providing €15 million in funds. The new entity has 1,000 healthcare professionals, operates 820 beds and provides 300,000 hospitalisation days per year, generating €70 million in consolidated revenue.

Le Normandy has been operating for 50 years, having started out in 1967 in a former hotel in Granville (Manche department). Now France's largest private functional re-education centre in a coastal area, Le Normandy is a physical medicine, re-education and rehabilitation facility specialised in severe orthopaedic and neurological conditions.

Since it was bought out by employees in 2000 with support from Crédit Mutuel Equity (formerly CM-CIC Investissement), which acquired a stake in an initial LBO, the group has grown steadily, demonstrating the benefits of ownership by medical professionals and employees. The business continued to develop and ranked among the leaders in France after two further LBOs in 2005 and 2011. Prior to the merger, it had 320 employee shareholders and generated revenue of €36 million from its capacity of 288 beds.

Formed through the successive acquisitions of the Lillebonne (1997) facility, and the Deauville (2003), Alençon (2010) and Lisieux (2012) polyclinics, the Clinique Développement group, the second-largest private medical and surgery group in the Lower Normandy region, now comprises four healthcare facilities with a capacity of 442 beds.

Comparable in size to Le Normandy, Clinique Développement is a regional group of medical, surgical and obstetrics clinics and post-acute and rehabilitation clinics. It has forged a strong reputation in digestive and visceral surgery, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, urology, oncology and specialised post-acute and rehabilitation care and multi-faceted care. It has full ownership of its surgical facilities in Cricqueboeuf, Lillebonne, Alençon, and Lisieux, and of a re-education centre in Deauville. Clinique Développement employs 110 practitioners and has 500 employees, generating €35 million in revenue.

Aside from a desire to enable its employees to participate in this business combination, the goal is also to maintain a collegiate governance framework. Its Executive Committee will be made up of Dr Tanguy de La Bourdonnaye as chairman, Franck Lebon (currently CEO of Le Normandy) as Chief Executive Officer, Dr Jean-Luc Isambert (currently CMO of Le Normandy) as Chief Medical Officer, Pierre-François Bérard (currently CFO of Clinique Développement) as Chief Financial Officer and Dr Hervé Lecat (currently CMO of Clinique Développement) as Chief Medical and Operating Officer.

"It was clear from the start that Clinique Développement and Le Normandy form a good fit given the location of their facilities and their areas of specialisation. Together, they possess dense local coverage, facilitating upstream and downstream cooperation with healthcare agencies. By pooling our skills, we are in a position to provide joined-up care for patients and a medical offering meeting the needs of healthcare agencies, while better satisfying the requirements of the supervisory authorities", explained Franck Lebon and Tanguy de la Bourdonnaye.

"This link-up establishing a robust regional footing has the backing of financial partners, chief among which Crédit Mutuel Equity, which leads a consortium of investors comprising Alliance Entreprendre, Tikehau, Capitem and BPI, and regional banking partners LCL and CIC Nord Ouest. Not only are they providing financing and participating in the combined entity's funding round, they have also facilitated the investment by employees", they added.

"Le Normandy is gaining a whole new dimension with this deal. As a longstanding shareholder, we are delighted to be standing alongside it as it embarks on a new chapter in its development. The combination will bring numerous benefits - it will help to develop a healthcare offering well-suited to the region, while the fit and synergies between the two companies can be harnessed. Potentially, too, it may serve as a platform for consolidating independent operators in the region", stated Mathieu Sollet, Principal at Crédit Mutuel Equity.

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