Hospital operators are billion-dollar corporations – and therefore interesting for international investors. getty images/Jackyenjoyphotography, Cecilie_Arcurs
The largest hospital operators in Germany all have over 10,000 employees, generate billions in sales and have financially strong owners behind them. But who owns these companies?
We looked into the contracts for you to find the investors in Germany’s largest hospital chains.
The hospital chains have a large number of investors. Some of them are known worldwide – but others prefer to remain hidden in public.
Asclepius is the Greek god of medicine and healing. His healing skills were unique as he could even resurrect the dead. The people of his time sought him out to get well and escape premature death. Asklepios staff, the staff of Aesculapius, became the symbol of doctors and pharmacists – and today his name adorns the hospitals of Asklepios GmbH, which is one of the largest hospital chains in Germany with over 31,000 beds.
There are several hospital companies that are similar in size to the Asklepios Group. These are billion-dollar corporations, without which the healthcare system in Germany would quickly be in trouble. The names are well known: Helios, Asklepios, Vivantes – but the owners often remain in the background. Among them are foreign investment groups, billionaires and stock corporations.
Business Insider looked at the investors in the five largest German hospital groups and found out for you who owns Germany’s hospitals.
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The Helios Kliniken, part of a DAX group
The Helios Clinic Group was founded in 1987 by doctor Lutz Helmig. After enormous growth, Helmig sold in 2005 to the healthcare company Fresenius, which acquired 94 percent of Helios shares for around 1.5 billion euros. The deal was viewed with skepticism, as was the purchase price was considered excessive and loud To report Fresenius was considering selling around 20 percent of the Helios Group again in 2022. But after one Boss change the plan was put on hold again.
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Helios Kliniken Gmbh is still part of Fresenius today. More precisely, part of Fresenius ProServe GmbH, which in turn is part of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. Fresenius is traded in the DAX on the German stock exchange and has other business areas in addition to Helios. The largest shareholder in Fresenius SE is the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung with 27 percent of all shares. This corresponds to over six billion euros and makes it the wealthiest non-profit foundation under private law in all of Germany.
A Helios clinic in Munich. picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com | Sachelle Babbar
A large private shareholder in Fresenius SE is Harris Associates Investment Trust from Chicago; He holds over three percent of the shares through Harris Associates LP. In 2023, Harris and another subsidiary together held over six percent. The French asset management company Amundi held around 2.4 percent of all shares in 2023. The German insurer Allianz has also repeatedly invested in Fresenius over the years. In 2021, Allianz held 2.98 percent through Allianz Global Investors GmbH, in 2017 a further 2.98 percent with Allianz SE and in 2015 another 1.5 percent through two subsidiaries.
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BlackRock, the world‘s largest asset manager, also has shares in Fresenius. BlackRock currently holds less than five percent. But in 2015, BlackRock even held over ten percent of the company through a network of subsidiaries. Overall, 42 percent of all Fresenius shareholders now come from Germany, 28 percent from the USA and 9 percent from Great Britain. In 2021, Helios had 38,000 hospital beds.
Asklepios: Hospitals of a German billionaire
A few years before Helios was founded, in 1985, Lutz Helmig also scored a coup. He founded the Aklepios Clinic Group together with the lawyer Bernard Broermann. But Helmig retired in 1994 and Broermann took over the group, which today operates over 160 medical facilities.
Asklepios Kliniken GmbH & Co. KGaA is now 100 percent owned by Broermann Holding GmbH, in which Broermann also combined his other entrepreneurial activities – such as his hotel business. As a hotelier, Broermann had become something like Udo Lindenberg’s landlord, because he bought the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg in 2014where the Hanseatic musician lives.
Broermann could afford it. In 2021, his holding company had sales of over five billion euros and a profit of over 100 million. His estimated fortune is over three billion euros.
The staff of Aesculapius is the logo of the Asklepios Kliniken. picture alliance/dpa | Marcus Brandt
But not only the hospitals with the Rod of Aesculapius belong to Broermann – the Rhön Clinics also largely belong to the Lower Saxony billionaire. 93.38 percent of Rhön Klinikum AG belongs to AMR Holding GmbH, which belongs to Asklepios Kliniken GmbH & Co. KGaA and therefore also to Broermann.
The takeover The 5,300-bed Rhön Group was completed in 2020 and cost Asklepios over half a billion euros. Due to the enormous size of both groups, the takeover was reviewed by the Federal Cartel Office, but since there was hardly any geographical overlap between Rhön and Asklepios, the deal was approved. In 2013, the cartel office banned the takeoverbecause Asklepios did not want to comply with the antitrust regulations.
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Sana, the insurance hospitals
The Sana Group was founded in 1972 by 18 private health insurance companies. Sana comes from the Latin, “sanare” means “to heal” and “to make healthy”. Over 36,000 employees work in the over 50 clinics that Sana operates, generating sales of over three billion euros per year. And although Sana was founded exclusively by private insurers, patients with statutory health insurance are also treated there.
A Sana clinic in Lübeck. picture alliance/dpa | Christian Charisius
Today, 22.4 percent of Sana Kliniken AG belong to DKV (Deutsche Krankenversicherung) AG. DKV is therefore the largest shareholder. Then comes Signal Iduna health insurance a. G. with 19.4 percent and Allianz Private Krankenversicherungs-AG with 14.4 percent. The Debeka Health Insurance Association owns 10.5 percent and Continentale Health Insurance 10.2 percent. There are currently a total of 24 owners, all of whom are private health insurers.
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Vivantes, the clinics of the state of Berlin
Vivantes is a municipal clinic operator and belongs to the state of Berlin. But with 18,000 employees and over 6,000 beds, Vivantes is also a significant player by national standards. Vivantes, founded in 2001, is the largest municipal clinic operator in Germany.
A Vivantes clinic by the water. picture alliance / picture alliance/Bildagentur-online | Bildagentur-online/Schoening
According to the company’s own information, a third of all hospital patients in Berlin are cared for by Vivantes; in 2022 that was over 500,000. Sales were over 1.4 billion euros, but the company has incurred a total of over 100 million euros in losses in the last three years.
Ameos Holding AG: The company from Switzerland
The Ameos Group is based in Zurich, but operates dozens of hospitals in Germany. According to its own information, Ameos has a total of over 104 hospitals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with over 10,000 beds. The doctors Axel Paeger, who was previously managing director at Asklepios, and Martin Kerres founded Ameos in 2002. But Kerres left the company in 2005 and instead devoted himself to his “Valdonica” winery in Tuscany.
An Ameos clinic in Staßfurt. picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zenralbild | Klaus Dietmar Gabbert
In addition to Axel Paeger, the Frankfurt financial investor Quadriga and the private equity company Carlyle from Washington DC also joined Ameos in 2012. But According to reports A change at the top was imminent in 2021: founder Paeger and the London-based Intermediate Capital Group were to take over Ameos and thus replace Carlyle and Quadriga, who wanted to withdraw from the company. It is still unknown whether the deal went through. When we asked, Ameos said it did not want to comment on the possible deal.
This article appeared on February 7th and was updated on February 27th.