RCS - Christie Group PLC - Sale of Avsan holding to Bupa Dental Care <Origin Href="QuoteRef">C3U.L</Origin>

ChristieAnnouncement

07/12/2017 11:41

RNS Number : 7035Y
Christie Group PLC
07 December 2017


7 December 2017
Christie Group plc
("Christie Group" or the "Company")
Christie & Co brokers the sale of Avsan holding to Bupa Dental Care
Christie Group plc (CTG.L), the leading provider of Professional Business Services and Stock & Inventory Systems and Services to the leisure, retail and care markets, is pleased to announce that Christie & Co, its specialist provider of agency and advisory services, has successfully brokered the sale of Avsan Holdings Limited, a privately-owned dental group, to Bupa Dental Care in a deal believed to be the largest independent portfolio sold in the sector in 2017.
Established over 30 years ago, Avsan is made up of 16 practices which are spread across Scotland and England. Bupa Dental Care is continuing to expand and currently has over 460 dental practices across the UK and Ireland.

Avron Smith, Avsan Founder & Owner said: "It's been a privilege and joy growing Avsan over the past 30 years. With a great management team and a fantastic group of clinicians and support teams, we have created a dynamic dental group committed to cutting edge dentistry and the highest standards of patient care, and I know that in the Avsan group of practices joining Bupa, our loyal patients across the UK will continue to benefit from quality oral healthcare for years to come."

David Hynam, Bupa UK CEO said at the time of the announcement: "This is another significant step in the expansion of Bupa Dental Care and the delivery of our dental strategy. We continue to make great strides to grow our dental services and offer our customers consistently high standards of care in over 450 practices. I'd like to welcome the Avsan team to Bupa Dental Care. We have a shared commitment to focus on providing high quality care, using the latest technology in a local practice."

Simon Hughes, Managing Director of Christie & Co's Dental team comments, "We were approached by Avron Smith of Avsan to value the group, position it for sale, negotiate terms and project manage the transaction, working with his management team. Having acquired Oasis Dental Care in February and with money to invest, Bupa was a natural choice of buyer.

"The deal demonstrates the appetite in the market for well run, profitable small and mid-sized groups. There are a number of other groups weighing up options for 2018 and we will undoubtedly see further consolidation at the middle to top end of the sector."

Enquiries:
Christie Group plc
Simon Hughes
 020 7227 0716
Managing Director - Medical

David Rugg 
 020 7227 0707
Chairman & Chief Executive



Dan Prickett
 020 7227 0700
Chief Operating Officer




Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited:
Dominic Morley / Charles Leigh-Pemberton020 7886 2906
Nominated Adviser & Broker 

Notes to Editors:
Christie Group plc, quoted on AIM, is a leading professional business services group with 42 offices across the UK, Europe and Canada, catering to its specialist markets in the leisure, retail and care sectors.
Christie Group operates in two complementary business divisions: Professional Business Services (PBS) and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services (SISS). These divisions trade under the brand names: PBS - Christie & Co, Pinders, Christie Finance and Christie Insurance: SISS - Orridge, Venners and Vennersys.
Tracing its origins back to 1846, the Group has a long established reputation for offering essential services to client companies in agency, valuation services, investment, consultancy, project management, multi-functional trading systems and online ticketing services, stock audit and inventory management. The diversity of these services provides a natural balance to the Group's core agency business.
For more information, please go to www.christiegroup.com

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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