Polaris acquires Swedish dental clinic chain Distrikstandvården

Eliza Punshi
02 September 2020

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Danish private equity firm Polaris has acquired the Swedish dental clinic chain DistrikstandvУЅrden.

The GP has become a shareholder alongside CEO Ibbe Gnem and deputy CEO Jan Lindqvist.

The deal is the result of a sale auction, for which ABG Sundal Collier had been mandated last year, according to sister publication Mergermarket. The newswire also reported that the company was being marketed based on EBITDA of SEK 40m (€3.7m).

The company generated sales of SEK 339m in 2019, up from SEK 287m in 2018.

Polaris has recently been deploying equity from its fourth fund, Polaris Private Equity IV, which held a final close in October 2016 on DKK 3.3bn. The has made at least 10 platform investments, according to Unquote data.

The GP is currently fundraising for its fifth fund, which launched in June last year and is targeting €550m.

Polaris said in a statement that it sees significant potential in continuing the company's organic growth by increasing capacity at existing clinics, supporting newly opened clinics, and adding more treatments, while also taking advantage of the M&A opportunities present in Sweden's fragmented dentistry market.

Company
Founded in 2010, Distrikstandvården is a chain of 27 dental clinics located in the Greater Stockholm, Uppsala and Mariehamn, and Åland regions of Sweden. The company generated SEK 339m in revenues in 2019 and has 370 employees.

People
Polaris Private Equity – Jan Dahlqvist (partner); Adam Lytle (director).
Distrikstandvården – Ibbe Gnem (CEO); Jan Lindqvist (deputy CEO).

Advisers
Company – ABG Sundal Collier (corporate finance).