Munich/London, December 3, 2018 – Nestor Primecare Services Limited, which is owned by the AURELIUS Group (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8), sold part of its homecare services business in England, Scotland and Wales to the Health Care Resourcing Group (CRG), Prescot, UK.

CRG is one of the biggest British staffing services providers in the healthcare and nursing sector in Great Britain. It will combine the acquired business with its own activities, creating one of the biggest British providers of homecare services. The homecare services business in Northern Ireland and Ireland is not affected by this sale and will remain with AURELIUS. The parties agreed to keep the purchase price secret.

AURELIUS acquired the business operated under the brand names “Allied Primecare” and “Allied Healthcare” from Saga plc. in late 2015 and has restructured it extensively since that time.

Ingerø Reiten Investment Company AS (“IRIC”) has today acquired 2.916.667 shares in Navamedic ASA, representing an ownership of 26.84% in the company. IRIC and related parties did not own any shares in Navamedic ASA prior to this transaction, and following the transaction holds 2.916.667 shares in total.

Nordstjernan’s subsidiary Lideta, which also includes the Mama Mia health care group, has signed an agreement to acquire the Primary Health Care business area from Aleris. The acquisition covers a total of eleven health care centers in the Stockholm region and Uppsala, with 107,000 listed patients. The company has 275 full-time employees, and sales for 2018 were estimated at SEK 325 million. The acquisition is conditional upon approval from the relevant competition authorities. After the acquisition, Lideta will have 247,000 listed patients and approximately 775 employees, and it is estimated that sales will increase around 40 percent to just over SEK 1 billion. Lideta will thus become Sweden’s third largest private operator in primary health care.

In 2017, Nordstjernan acquired the health care companies Lideta and Mama Mia with the intent of developing a high-quality operator in Swedish health and medical care, with a focus on primary health care. The acquisition of Aleris’s Primary Health Care business area is part of its focus on primary health care.

“Nordstjernan believes that private health and medical care will play a central role in meeting patients’ growing needs for accessibility and quality. We believe that much of this future expansion will take place in the important field of primary health care. With Lideta’s acquisition of health care centers from Aleris, we will continue to expand in the welfare sector as a long-term owner,” said Nordstjernan’s President and CEO Tomas Billing.

Tomas Billing
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB

Questions will be answered by:
Tomas Billing, CEO, Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 8 788 50 18
E-mail: tomas.billing@nordstjernan.se

Stefan Stern, Senior Advisor, Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 70 636 74 17
E-mail: stefan.stern@nordstjernan.se

CBPE Capital (“CBPE”) has invested to acquire a majority ownership position in Blatchford, a world leading provider of advanced prosthetic and orthotic (“P&O”) devices.  CBPE will be investing alongside fourth generation family member Stephen Blatchford and the management team led by Adrian Stenson, CEO. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Blatchford provides highly innovative, premium quality prosthetic and orthotic devices to lower-limb patients across the world. Over 80% of product sales are outside of the UK. As well as designing, manufacturing and distributing products, Blatchford also operates clinical service centres in the UK and Norway, providing valuable patient feedback into the research and development process for new products.

The company will continue its dedication to and focus on developing innovative products that lead to improved clinical outcomes and enhanced quality of life for patients.  The ongoing investment in R&D, under the stewardship of Professor Sir Saeed Zaheedi, has resulted in pioneering prosthetics such as Linx, the world’s first and only truly integrated microprocessor-controlled limb system. This patient-centric culture extends into the clinical divisions of Blatchford where patients receive market-leading, quality rehabilitation services.

CBPE will support management’s plans to bring a range of innovative new products to market and to expand the business geographically, both organically and through acquisitions.

The investment in Blatchford continues CBPE’s successful track record of investing in and developing market-leading, high-growth healthcare businesses. The current portfolio includes Rodericks, a leading provider of dental services, SpaMedica, a leading provider of ophthalmic services, OH Assist, the largest occupational health services provider in the UK, Medica Reporting which is the UK market leader in teleradiology, and Assisted Reproduction & Gynaecology Centre (ARGC) the leading fertility clinic in the UK.

Naveen Passi, Director, CBPE said: “Blatchford provides life-changing products and is a technology-leader in the P&O field. Stephen and Adrian have led the business through a period of substantial growth and we are delighted to be supporting the business in the next phase of its development.”

Adrian Stenson, CEO of Blatchford said: “In CBPE we have found an investor that shares our values, has taken the time to understand the direct effect we have on people’s lives and will help us build our brand and what we stand for on the global stage. CBPE has a track record of successful direct investment in the healthcare area and we look forward to working as a close team to continue delivering exceptional outcomes for patients and stakeholders alike.”

CBPE’s investment in Blatchford was led by Naveen Passi and Ian Moore with support from Rupert Parker and Aqil Sohail. Naveen Passi and Ian Moore will join the Board of Blatchford.

Camel-IDS, a Brussels-based company developing cancer-targeted radiopharmaceuticals today announced the completion of a series-A financing round, whereby the company secured funding of EUR 37 million. Gimv, who leads this round together with V-Bio Ventures, invests EUR 6 million. They are joined by HealthCap, Novo Seeds, Pontifax and BioMedPartners. This financing, which is one of the larger rounds of a European early-stage life sciences company, will enable Camel-IDS to run a phase Ib/II trial with its lead program targeting brain metastatic breast cancer, while further progressing and broadening its preclinical pipeline.

Camel-IDS (www.camel-ids.com), which was founded in 2014 as a spin-off from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), develops novel radiopharmaceuticals, using camelid domain antibodies linked to radionuclides. Breast cancer patients with tumors that overexpress HER2, a growth-promoting protein, can benefit from effective targeted treatments today. However, they have a poor prognosis when the cancer progresses towards the brain. Camel-IDS’ lead program shall be used to effectively irradiate such brain lesions while sparing healthy tissue. This is based on its unique technology platform that leverages the favourable tissue distribution of camelid derived single domain antibodies linked to radionuclides.

Karl Naegler, Partner in Gimv’s Health & Care platform, adds: ‘From early on in our discussions, the renowned expertise of the Camel-IDS’ team in radio-immunotherapy became clear, with Prof. Tony Lahoutte bringing exceptional knowledge to the table. Together with Ruth Devenyns as CEO, an industry veteran of the European biotech landscape and successful entrepreneur, the company is well positioned to move up to the next level.’

This investment marks Gimv’s 4th investment in the life sciences, medtech and healthcare sector this year, thus further underpinning Gimv’s position as one of the most active European investors in the healthcare industry. Moreover, this brings the total number of portfolio companies in the Health & Care investment platform to no less than 21.

For further information, we refer to the company’s press release in attachment.

Read the full press release:

Utrecht (The Netherlands), Cambridge (United States) – Respiratory device producer Vapotherm, Inc. announced its Initial Public Offering and listing on the NYSE exchange. Shares in the IPO are issued to institutional investors in the US and Europe, raising gross proceeds of $56 million. The offering was significantly oversubscribed. The total market capitalisation of Vapotherm will be $244 million at the introduction price and shares will trade under the ticker symbol VAPO.

The new funds enable Vapotherm to continue ramping sales of its Hi-VNI® technology in the US and Europe. Vapotherm’s Hi-VNI® treats patients in respiratory distress in the neo-natal intensive care unit (ICU), the adult ICU, the emergency department, post-acute care and for patients in hospice. The technology has been proven equivalent to the gold standard of non-invasive ventilation, however can be delivered without the need for a mask, providing patients with more comfort and flexibility in their care.

In addition to ramping sales with existing products, Vapotherm will use proceeds from the IPO to pursue an aggressive product development program which includes products which automate the delivery of oxygen based on feedback from a patient’s oxygen levels; and a portable device which has the potential to be used in expanded clinical settings, including the home.

Gilde Healthcare acted as lead investor in the Series B financing for Vapotherm and will remain represented on the board of Vapotherm post listing. During Gilde’s investment period Vapotherm tripled US and International revenues, established a highly specialized direct sales force, and dramatically increased gross margins.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and William Blair acted as Joint Bookrunners in connection with the IPO. Canaccord Genuity acted as lead manager and BTIG acted as co-manager.

About Gilde Healthcare

Gilde Healthcare is a specialized European healthcare investor managing €1 billion across two business lines: a venture & growth capital fund and a private equity fund. Gilde Healthcare’s venture & growth capital fund invests in medtech, digital health and therapeutics. The portfolio companies are based in Europe and North America. Gilde Healthcare’s private equity fund invests in profitable European lower mid-market healthcare services companies with a focus on the Benelux and DACH-region. The portfolio consists of healthcare providers, suppliers of medical products and other service providers in the healthcare market. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gildehealthcare.com