Woonzorgnet BV – Orpea S.A.

Woonzorgnet acquired by the French care group Orpea

Orpea, a French healthcare group that is listed on the EURONEXT in Paris, acquired the shares in Woonzorgnet in April 2017. Orpea is a new entrant in the Dutch market with the acquisition of Woonzorgnet. A transaction of this extend is the first cross-border acquisition in the Netherlands with regard to protected living.

Orange Corporate Finance acted as advisor to the shareholders of Woonzorgnet during this transaction.

Woonzorgnet
Woonzorgnet was founded in 2005 and is the only private provider with regard to protected living, day care and outpatient support for clients with mental health problems or psychiatric illness. They offered a residential place to approximately 162 adults with mental health or psychosocial problems from six rented locations: Nijmegen, Renkum, Nunspeet, Rheden, Arnhem and Silvolde. Woonzorgnet has developed a unique concept, offering its residents small-scale living groups of about 25-28 residents per location.

Woonzorgnet is a profitable company with a high level of employee and resident satisfaction. In 2016, Woonzorgnet was nominated as the best employer in the Netherlands (in the non-profit category with less than 1,000 employees) for the second consecutive time. The quality of management information, systems and procedures is considered unique for a company in this market.

Orpea
Orpea was founded in 1989 and is the European market leader in the provision of dependent care. Orpea offers a wide range of care facilities and services for people with reduced independence. With a network of 855 specialised facilities and 86,757 beds in 13 countries, Orpea is a world leader in long-term care. Orpea is listed on EURONEXT in Paris.

Motives
The Dutch health market is growing. In 2017, average health costs were EUR 4.5k per inhabitant. This compares to average health costs of EUR 3.3k for OECD countries. With the acquisition of Woonzorgnet, Orpea enters this growing market and strengthens its position in Europe.

The management of Woonzorgnet concluded that, given these market aspects and the growth strategy of Woonzorgnet, a strategic partner could promote development in the Netherlands. By, among others, devoting more time and attention to contacts with municipalities, it should be possible for the company accelerate growth. The indirect organisation has been set up in such a way that a substantial growth in the number of locations and residential areas is possible, with limited investments.