Simplyhealth buys Denplan for £115m

Simplyhealth has bought dental cash plan provider Denplan from Axa for £115m.

The purchase has been completed has a whole cash transaction with no debt being required by Simplyhealth to finance the deal.

It is the second major transaction by the provider in five months after it announced a deal to purchase Groupama's PMI operation.The purchase has been completed has a whole cash transaction with no debt being required by Simplyhealth to finance the deal.

It is the second major transaction by the provider in five months after it announced a deal to purchase Groupama's PMI operation.

Denplan is the UK's largest dental plan provider with over 1.8 million patients and according to Simplyhealth is expected to report pre tax profits of £14.1m on overall revenue of £55.5m for the year ended 31 December 2011.

Axa also confirmed its widely rumoured acquisition of Health-on-Line, which it expects to complete during the first quarter of 2012.

Des Benjamin, CEO of Simplyhealth, told last month's Association of Medical Insurance Intermediaries (AMII) conference that the health insurer was in excellent financial health with a capitalisation of £250m.

However, the deal is a step up from the £100m Axa was reportedly asking for Denplan.

A statement from Simplyhealth said the acquisition will help it to gain market presence in a complementary area of healthcare, ‘supporting its broader diversification strategy, which has also recently involved the acquisition of Groupama's UK private medical insurance business'.

Benjamin added: "Over the past ten years, Simplyhealth has been on a path of growth and diversification.

"By joining with companies that share common values, we have been building a strong organisation for the future that can help more people, in more ways, to look after their health.

"Our goal is to become an important, high quality part of the new health system as it emerges over the next few years - the acquisition of Denplan is an important step on this journey."

Steve Gates, managing director of Denplan, said: "We are confident that we will benefit from the fact that Simplyhealth is solely focussed on health, as well as being a UK-based organisation based on mutual principles, which shares the same values and ethos as Denplan.

"This change also provides Denplan with some very exciting opportunities to further enhance the services and support that we can provide to our dentists, clients and patient members."

A statement from Axa said its health insurance business would now focus on private medical insurance (PMI) and associated medical services and businesses, in addition to its personal and commercial insurance and wealth management arms.

Paul Evans, group CEO of Axa UK and Ireland, added: "The sale of Denplan allows us to focus our resources on the ongoing development of our extremely successful private healthcare business.

"We anticipate AXA PPP healthcare will be significantly strengthened by the expected acquisition of Health-on-Line."