Simplyhealth has announced its plan to acquire Denplan, the UK’s leading dental provider, in a GBP115 million cash deal.
Denplan, previously owned by The AXA Group, said the merger will benefit both companies because of their shared values.
Denplan was founded in 1986 and has been owned by the AXA Group for 12 years. They are the largest provider of dental payment plans, serving over 1.8 million patients, and are expected to report pre tax profits of more than GBP14 million for 2011.
Des Benjamin, CEO of Denplan, said, “By joining with companies that share common values, we have been building a strong organisation for the future that can help more people, in more ways, to look after their health.
“Our goal is to become an important, high quality part of the new health system as it emerges over the next few years. The acquisition of Denplan is an important step on this journey.”
The deal wraps up a successful year for Simplyhealth, after also acquiring the UK Healthcare business Groupama in August this year.
Steve Gates, Managing Director at Denplan, continued, “We are confident that we will benefit from the fact that Simplyhealth is solely focussed on health, as well as being a UK-based organisation based on mutual principles, which shares the same values and ethos as Denplan.”
