Houlihan Lokey Advises Medgate

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Medgate Group (Medgate), a Swiss provider of innovative digital health solutions, has had a majority stake in the company acquired by Otto Group. As part of the Otto Group’s majority holding, Medgate Holding is taking over Cologne-based BetterDoc, the European market leader for finding and placing highly specialised doctors.

Medgate strives to give its patients easy access to affordable and excellent medical treatment wherever they are. With innovative digital health solutions, Medgate brings doctors to where their patients need them. Its main concerns are the well-being of patients and the benefits for society. Medgate was founded in 1999 and now employs over 300 people in Switzerland (including more than 100 doctors) as well as over 500 people worldwide. Medgate operates Switzerland’s largest digital health platform and has conducted over 10 million teleconsultations. This gives Medgate outstanding experience and knowledge in the field of telemedicine. Medgate’s Mini Clinics and the doctors and clinics of the Medgate Partner Network are available for on-site consultations.

Otto Group was founded in Germany in 1949 and is now a global trading and service group with around 52,000 employees in 30 major corporate groups and more than 30 countries in Europe, North, and South America, as well as Asia. Its business activities cover multichannel retail, financial services, and other services. In the 2020/2021 financial year (28 February), Otto Group generated sales of €15.6 billion. With online sales of around €9.9 billion, it is one of the world’s largest online retailers. The particular strength of the group lies in realising a broad range of different offers to various target groups in almost all relevant regions of the world. A large number of strategic partnerships and joint ventures provide Otto Group with excellent opportunities for the transfer of know-how and utilisation of synergies. A high level of entrepreneurial responsibility and willingness to collaborate on the part of its group companies guarantees flexibility and customer service as well as optimal communication with target groups in the respective countries.

Medgate aims to become a leading global provider of digital health and plans to expand its geographical area of operations. To finance its growth strategy, Medgate launched a financing round about a year ago, which has now been successfully concluded with Otto Group’s investment. Otto Group, the international trading and service company, will become the new majority shareholder of Medgate Holding by subscribing to all the new shares created in the capital increase and buying out certain existing shareholders.

As part of Otto Group’s majority holding, Medgate Holding is taking over Cologne-based BetterDoc GmbH, the European market leader for finding and placing highly specialised doctors. This means that the company will become part of Medgate Group and will offer a range of services that complement Medgate’s telemedicine services. With the acquisition of BetterDoc, Medgate aims to become the leader of the digital health industry in Europe. This project will be driven by targeted investments and combined resources. The founders of Medgate and BetterDoc will continue to hold a minority stake in Medgate Holding.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to Medgate and assisted the management, founders, and shareholders throughout the transaction, including marketing document and business plan preparation, due diligence process coordination, and transaction negotiations. Houlihan Lokey also advised Medgate as part of the Otto Group transaction on its successful acquisition of BetterDoc.