The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of the remaining 50 percent of the shares in the Herz- und Diabeteszentrum (heart and diabetes centre, HDZ) in Bad Oeynhausen by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In 2006 the Sana Group had acquired half of the shares in the HDZ from the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The other half of the shares are still held by NRW.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The reacquisition and thus sole control of the Herz- und Diabeteszentrum in Bad Oeynhausen by the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia is desirable from a competition perspective. The Sana Group, which has its own heart surgery clinics in Cottbus, Stuttgart and Dresden or operates these on behalf of a university clinic and also has hospitals with cardiological departments in NRW, will now be able to compete unrestrictedly with the HDZ.”

The HDZ is one of the largest heart centres in Europe, especially in the area of heart transplants. Its over 2,400 staff care for 35,000 heart and diabetes patients every year, 14,000 of which in inpatient care. The HDZ is a university clinic of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

The Bundeskartellamt recently cleared another merger between hospitals specialising in cardiac medicine. This involved the acquisition of the hospital operation services of Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin (DHZB) by the federal state of Berlin, specifically by Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (see press release and case summary of 7 June 2021)