Dialysis service accepts £3.1m growth capital from BGF

BGF has invested £3.1m of growth capital in Renal Services, an independent provider of dialysis services to NHS patients.

BGF has taken a minority stake and a seat on the company’s existing board.

Headquartered in London, Renal Services was founded in 2007, employs 62 staff and is the fourth largest provider of dialysis in the UK. The company currently runs six dialysis centres across the UK, operating 63 dialysis stations and treating approximately 700 permanent and transient patients on behalf of the NHS. Approximately 95% of treatments are delivered to permanent local patients.

The centres, which were designed and built by Renal Services, are located in Grantham, Havant, Launceston, Milford on Sea, Salisbury and Skegness. The company manages all aspects of dialysis care at its centres including clinical, quality control, data collection, diagnostics and maintenance services. It puts patient experience, choice and outcomes at the centre of its service with an on-going track record in exceeding local and national standards as set out by the Department of Health and the Renal Association.

Renal Services treats patients with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), the last stage of chronic kidney disease where patients’ kidneys can no longer sustain life, using Haemodialysis whereby a patient’s blood is filtered and cleaned through a machine external to their body three times a week.

In the UK, as of 2012, there were around 55,000 ESRD patients of which circa 27,000 were treated via HD. This figure has been growing steadily at an annual rate of 4 per cent over the last 17 years.

Renal Services has recently won two new contracts to build and operate three centres with 58 new dialysis stations and BGF’s investment will be used to fund these new centres located in the East Midlands and Northumberland and thereby doubling the size of the company. The investment is providing working capital for Renal to compete for and win additional new contracts to open and run new centres across the UK.

Alongside its equity investment, BGF contributed additional support to the company through the introduction of James Buckley as Non-Executive Chairman. James has an extensive background in the healthcare sector, formerly as CEO of Tunstall Group until 2009 and currently as Chairman of Ark Home Healthcare and Mangar International, and Non-Executive Director of Prism Medical.