Mehiläinen to be Finland’s largest producer of mental health rehabilitation services - Acquisition of Human Care Network will strengthen Mehiläinen Municipal Services

Through an agreement signed on Friday, 18 June 2010, the Mehiläinen Group will acquire Human Care Network (HCN) in the largest transaction ever concluded by the Group. As a result, Mehiläinen will become Finland’s largest private provider of mental health rehabilitation services for municipalities and hospital districts.

HCN, established in 1988, provides home care services for those requiring mental health rehabilitation and enhanced home care for those of advanced age in the Helsinki region and Uusimaa and Häme provinces. HCN currently runs 14 service units and offers a total of 459 resident places. Together with HCN, Mehiläinen will be able to provide a unique range of services for those undergoing mental health rehabilitation. The range of services available for ageing persons in need of challenging psychiatric or physical care will also strengthen and expand.

"We are delighted with the agreement concluded with HCN,” says Matti Bergendahl, CEO of Mehiläinen. “We believe that this acquisition – the largest in our history – offers incredible potential for developing new forms of care that will provide long-lasting support for customers. HCN’s services complement our current services and network extremely well. HCN is a pioneer in its field, and has performed particularly well in safety issues – as is evidenced by its receipt of the field’s most prestigious safety prize.”

“Together with HCN we will be able to offer those customers requiring mental health rehabilitation a selection of services ranging from intensive round-the-clock care to supported forms of living aimed at promoting the ability to live independently. Thus, residents and municipalities will be able to trust that our services fulfil all the personal needs of residents,” says Teemu Annala, Vice President at Mehiläinen Municipal Services. “Strong rehabilitation expertise at all service levels is at the core of our operations,” continues Annala.

“The merger with Mehiläinen is a very welcome solution for us. Mehiläinen’s values and strong emphasis on quality accord perfectly with our own views. In the future we can focus even better on producing and developing our services with the support of the Mehiläinen Group,” says Marie Pulkkinen, Chairman of the Board of HCN.

Upon the conclusion of the transaction, HCN’s operations will continue as before and all employees will be transferred to Mehiläinen. Riina Helenius, who has been CEO of HCN, has been appointed Vice President of Mehiläinen’s mental health services, responsible for HCN’s operations, among others.

For additional information, please contact:

Matti Bergendahl, CEO of Mehiläinen Oy, tel. +358 40 833 5461
Teemu Annala, Vice President, Mehiläinen Municipal Services, tel. + 358 40 533 7568
Marie Pulkkinen, Chairman of the Board, Human Care Network, tel. +358 50 563 0152

Mehiläinen Municipal Services offers high quality and cost-effective services to municipalities, municipal groups and hospital districts. The services include not only residential services, but also child protection and mental health rehabilitation services, as well as basic health care and special nursing care. The aim of Mehiläinen Municipal Services is to create and develop customer-oriented service models for all sectors of social and health care.

The Mehiläinen Group is the best-known and top-rated provider of private healthcare and social services in Finland. Mehiläinen’s nationwide network offers a wide portfolio of social and healthcare services for private, corporate and municipal customers. The company was established in 1909 and has about 1700 employees and 1900 physicians. In 2009, the Mehiläinen Group posted turnover of EUR 167 million. Mehiläinen is part of the Nordic healthcare group Ambea, one of the largest providers of health and nursing services in Europe.