The Joint Municipal Authority for Health and Social Services of Kainuu sold its shares in Kainuunmeren Työterveys Oy to Mehiläinen Oy in December 2022.
Kainuunmeren Työterveys Oy was an in-house occupational healthcare company owned by the Joint Municipal Authority and the municipalities of the region. In 2021, the company generated revenue of approximately EUR 5.8 million and a profit of around EUR 293,000. It employed 52 healthcare professionals across seven locations and served approximately 11,000 individual customers in 2021. The sale was driven by Finland's healthcare and social services reform, which came into effect at the beginning of 2023. Following the reform, responsibility for organizing social and healthcare services, including occupational healthcare services for self-employed professionals and companies, transferred to the Wellbeing Services County of Kainuu. The objective was to complete the sale of the company's shares before the reform took effect, allowing the company's enterprise value to benefit Kainuu Social and Healthcare Services and the municipalities before the transition.
Mehiläinen Group is a well-known and highly regarded private provider of social and healthcare services, offering comprehensive, high-quality services both in Finland and internationally. Founded 113 years ago, Mehiläinen is a rapidly growing and innovative leader in its sector. The company invests heavily in digitalization as well as in the effectiveness and quality of care across all its business areas.
Together with the company's other shareholders, Kainuu Social and Healthcare Services launched a review of asset transfer options in spring 2022. Based on the findings, Kainuu Social and Healthcare Services and the majority of the other owners decided to initiate a competitive tendering process covering both the provision of occupational healthcare services for their personnel and the sale of the company's shares. An open tender process for the provision of occupational healthcare services and the sale of the company's shares was conducted in late 2022.
Mehiläinen submitted the winning bid, offering a debt-free purchase price of EUR 8.11 million for the entire share capital of Kainuunmeren Työterveys Oy. A letter of intent was signed with Mehiläinen on 14 October 2022, securing its participation in further negotiations and a more detailed review of the target company. Following the review process, the value of the shares was confirmed at EUR 9.117 million. The transaction was completed well before year-end, on 8 December 2022.
BDO acted as advisor to the Joint Municipal Authority and the shareholder municipalities throughout both the transaction and tendering processes. As advisor, BDO was responsible for managing the entire sale and competitive tendering process while taking into account the objectives and decision-making procedures of the shareholder municipalities.