Dubai buys Alliance Medical

Dubai International Capital (DIC), the sovereign wealth fund which bought P&O Ports last year, has agreed to buy Alliance Medical for £600m (US$1.25bn).

The current owner, private equity firm Bridgepoint, bought the provider of healthcare imaging services in 2001 for just £86m.

Since then the company has made 16 acquisitions and now runs more than 190 scanners for public and private hospitals around Europe.

These scanners include MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) technology.

This growth has allowed the business to grow turnover six fold. In the year to March the group produced £132m revenues.

According to a spokesperon, Bridgepoint made four times its original investment on the sale. The spokesperson added that Bridgepoint originally appointed Rothschild to run a process early last year to gauge interest and received offers for approximately three times money. “At that stage, we felt there was still value to come from the business, so we pulled it and started again.”

DIC chief executive Sameer Al Ansari said: “We are committed to investing in growth companies that are leaders in their field. This is the third buyout for DIC in 2007”.

The other two deals were the buyout of Mauser, one of the world’s largest industrial packaging producers, and Almatis, a leading producer of alumina-based products.

KPMG advised Bridgepoint on the sale. Goldman Sachs advised DIC and Jamieson performed the same role for Alliance Medical’s management.

Dresdner Kleinwort and Bank of Scotland will arrange the financing of the deal for DIC.