Rhoen-Klinikum Shareholders to Benefit from Hospital Sales - Report

Rhoen-Klinikum AG (RHK.XE) shareholders should expect to benefit financially from the sale of several hospitals to German healthcare company Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA (FRE.XE), its chairman said Sunday.

"The shareholders will naturally profit financially from the sale ," Eugen Muench, chairman of the board of Rhoen-Klinikum and a major shareholder, told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an article published Sunday. Mr. Muench owns 12% of Rhoen-Klinikum shares, according to the article.

Fresenius said Friday its Helios unit acquired several hospitals from Rhoen-Klinikum in a deal that will make Helios the largest private hospital operator in Europe. Fresenius will pay 3.07 billion euros ($4.08 billion) for the assets and expects the acquisition to generate yearly sales of approximately EUR2 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, of around EUR250 million.

Last year Fresenius was forced to abandon an attempt to take over Rhoen-Klinikum entirely as the privately held hospital group Asklepios snapped up shares in Rhoen--effectively stifling the deal. In June, Rhoen-Klinikum shareholders voted to change the company's strict voting-threshold statutes, making the company more vulnerable to takeovers.

Newspaper website: http://www.faz.net

-Write to the Frankfurt Bureau at [e-mail]

(Shane Strowmatt contributed to this article.)

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