European private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that Spire Healthcare (formerly BUPA Hospitals) has reached agreement to acquire Classic Hospitals Group from LGV Capital for a total consideration of £145 million (€214 million).

Classic Hospitals is the 6th largest hospital group in the UK whose operations consist of 10 hospitals with 369 beds around the North and South East of England as well as two off-site consulting rooms and more than 2,000 employees.

Following this acquisition, Spire Healthcare, which was acquired from BUPA for £1.44 billion (€2.13 billion) in August 2007, will become the 2nd largest private hospital provider in the UK with an enhanced national footprint of high quality, largely purpose-built hospitals.

Cinven has unrivalled expertise in the private healthcare market as a result of its previous investments in Générale de Santé (the leading private acute healthcare provider in France) and General Healthcare Group. Cinven currently owns Spire Healthcare, Partnerships in Care (a leading UK provider of specialist mental health and related servicing) and USP Hospitales (the leading independent operator in the Spanish private healthcare market).

Debt facilities have been provided by Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets, Calyon and GE Leveraged Loans Limited.

Simon Rowlands, partner at Cinven, said today:

“Classic Hospitals is a very high quality business with excellent facilities that complement Spire’s existing units. As a result, it represents an attractive acquisition for Spire.

As with our other healthcare investments, we will work with management to invest in the operations and capabilities within Classic Hospitals in order to drive organic growth.”