News releases
Medivire expands
Engel Care Services (Engel Hoivapalvelut) to
become part of Medivire Group
The Medivire Group is expanding with the purchase of Engel Care Services. The purpose is to build one strong company in the healthcare and welfare sector which will be the leading player in its field in terms of skills, financial resources, market position and potential for development. There have also been changes in Medivire’s ownership structure, the state having sold its stake in the Group to MB Funds (MB Rahastot).
“The new arrangement has mostly to do with developing Medivire’s business concept. Medivire takes a very broad view of the healthcare and welfare industry. We are now building a structure made up of growing operations that support one another. The new company will be the market leader in its field, capable of developing policies for the industry,” says Hannu Puhakka, a partner in MB Funds.
When Medivire was privatised in 2000, the state became a minimum shareholder and MB Funds the main stakeholder. Now the state has surrendered its stake in the organisation MB Funds owns 82% of the company, Ilmarinen 10% and the company’s active management 8%.
“Medivire’s business is now set to see good growth and the company has great potential for the development of both its health and care services. After the business expanded and capitalised, it was only natural that the state should surrender its stake in the company,” says Puhakka.
“As a developing service company, Engel provided a sound basis for growth for its care services and in a few years had become a market leader in the field. We are proud of how the company developed. In my view Medivire is the best possible organisation to take it over and now we will be looking at a new phase of growth nationwide,” says Ilkka Rantasalo, Engel Group’s (Engel-yhtymä) Managing Director.
Engel Care Services will form its own separate company within Medivire, to be named later on this spring. The new ownership structure will take effect on 31.5.2004. The Director of Engel Care Services, Kristiina Hautakangas, is to be the new company’s Managing Director.
Clear benefits from combining occupational healthcare with general care services
“The new arrangement will have a positive impact not only on our business but our corporate image too. Medivire is a credible, reliable market leader that has been operating for a long time now and is keen to be at the forefront of developments in the sectors in which it operates. Other benefits include better opportunities for staff training and development. Medivire Occupational Health Services Ltd. (Medivire Työterveyspalvelut Oy) and the newly established company will operate as separate companies, but in close collaboration with one another. So there will be no effect on staff numbers or job descriptions,” explains Kimmo Karvonen, Medivire Occupational Health Services’ Managing Director.
“We are seeing something of a centralising trend in the health and welfare industry. I see the new arrangement as a positive step. It will lead to the development of skills and know-how as well as increased growth, both financially and geographically. The staff situation will be unaffected. Engel Care Services personnel will be considered long-serving employees of the newly established company when they take up their positions there,” says Kristiina Hautakangas.
“In the years to come the Medivire Group will develop as one entity, although it will operate as two independent companies. Both will have challenging targets for growth. Furthermore, new areas of business are being looked at. These, however, will have to fit into the whole in terms of how they work and their potential for development,” says Hannu Puhakka.
Further information:
Medivire
Occupational Health Services Ltd. (Medivire
Työterveyspalvelut Oy)
Kimmo Karvonen, Managing Director
Tel. +358-(0)40-505 2158
Engel Care
Services (Engel Hoivapalvelut)
Kristiina Hautakangas, Director
Tel. +358-(0)40-586 7651
Engel Group
(Engel-Yhtymä Oy)
Ilkka Rantasalo, Managing Director
Tel. +358-(0)400-222 060
MB Funds (MB Rahastot)
Hannu Puhakka, partner
Tel. +358-(0)9-1310 1352 or
+358-(0)50-511
3917