The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of Sankt Elisabeth Hospital GmbH in Gütersloh by Katholische Hospitalvereinigung Ostwestfalen GmbH based in the neighbouring city of Bielefeld. Both hospital operators each run three clinics at different locations in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ostwestfalen-Lippe region). The acquirer is mainly active in Bielefeld and the surrounding area, the acquiree in and around Gütersloh.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “The merger was cleared since, in addition to the parties, other large competitors are also active in the two regions and patients will thus still have alternatives to choose from, namely Klinikum Bielefeld, among others, in Bielefeld and Klinikum Gütersloh in Gütersloh.”

Sankt Elisabeth Hospital GmbH had originally planned to merge with the municipal hospital Klinikum Gütersloh in 2019. The merger between the only two general hospitals in Gütersloh, Sankt Elisabeth Hospital and Klinikum Gütersloh, had been viewed critically by the Bundeskartellamt. If this merger had been implemented, patients in and around Gütersloh could have essentially only switched to hospitals associated with the Cura group with which Sankt Elisabeth Hospital is already affiliated. The hospital operators thus abandoned their plans at the time.

Instead, Sankt Elisabeth Hospital has now turned to Katholische Hospitalvereinigung Ostwestfalen, whose facilities are not located directly in Gütersloh, but in the nearby cities Bielefeld, Herford and Rheda-Wiedenbrück. This brings two already affiliated operators of Catholic hospitals in Bielefeld and Gütersloh closer together.

The merger between the two already affiliated Catholic hospitals in Bielefeld and Gütersloh does not impede competition between hospitals in either of the regions.