OTPP Acquires DONTE GROUP, Sells Sahyadri Hospitals
Advent International has agreed to sell Spain-based dental chain Donte Group to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, valuing the business at €1 billion (around $1.2 billion).
The Boston-based PE firm acquired Donte in 2019 from Intermediate Capital Group, JB Capital Markets and Kartesia.
Donte operates a network of 426 clinics and 2,200 dentists across four brands.
OTPP has more than C$266 billion (around $194.3 billion) in net assets, including C$6 billion in global healthcare.
The fund’s portfolio companies include US-based Heartland Dental, a non-clinical dental support services provider; PhyNet, an outsourcing services provider for dermatology practices; Veonet, a Germany-based operator of ophthalmic treatment and medical care centers; and NVision, an imaging services provider.
PE deals in healthcare in Europe remained resilient in Q2 despite a slower overall dealmaking environment.As of July 15, around €28.2 billion has been transacted this year in the sector, equivalent to 76% of the total deal value last year. However, there were only 243 deals, representing 42.8% of the deal count in 2024.
Earlier today Ontario Teachers' issued a press release announcing an agreement to acquire a leading Spanish dental provider DONTE GROUP:
- Ontario Teachers to support DONTE’s successful growth trajectory and effort to make health accessible to everyone, especially those who need it most
- With its CAD$6bn healthcare portfolio, Ontario Teachers’ will bring its value creation capabilities and experience in building sector-leading specialist healthcare companies
Madrid, July 15, 2025 – Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with Advent, to acquire 100% of DONTE GROUP (DONTE or The Group) alongside its management team. The deal values the company at approximately EUR1 billion.
DONTE GROUP is a leading dental provider in Spain, operating one of the largest clinic networks, with over 426 clinics and 2,200 dentists delivering general, premium, and pediatric dental care across four brands: Vitaldent, Smysecret, Moonz, and MAEX. The Group has built a strong reputation for clinical quality and patient experience.
The investment reflects Ontario Teachers’ conviction in DONTE GROUP as a sector-leading platform with high quality service and brands, a first-class management team and a significant runway for growth, including through organic expansion, new clinic openings and selective acquisitions. Ontario Teachers’ offers the Group access to long-term, flexible capital and considerable expertise in building and growing specialist dental and healthcare services companies in the USA, Europe and Asia. DONTE GROUP will become part of Ontario Teachers’ CAD$6bn global healthcare portfolio, which includes Heartland Dental, PhyNet, Veonet and NVISION.
“We are very excited to partner with Javier and his team. DONTE is a high growth potential company with unique strengths: its devoted dentists and professionals, its brands, its history of success and its ambition to offer high quality dental care to everyone in society” said Inaki Echave, Senior Managing Director and Head of EMEA Private Capital at Ontario Teachers’. “This investment builds on our experience in healthcare services globally and reflects our conviction in investing in leading companies operating in our core sectors in Europe. We focus on supporting high-quality, ambitious management teams we partner with to deliver transformational plans that create highly attractive businesses during our ownership.”
“We are extremely proud that one of the world’s largest investors has taken an interest in our company and in what the entire team behind DONTE GROUP and all its brands has achieved. Ontario Teachers’ has acknowledged the positive impact that our company is having in society by driving the democratization of access to oral healthcare. With the support of Ontario Teachers’, we will be well-positioned to meet our key objectives and grow the business in the years ahead, among which are being able to treat the oral health of 1,300,000 patients and to exceed 600 clinics by 2030” said Javier Martín Ocaña, CEO of DONTE GROUP.
The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
About Ontario Teachers’
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $266.3 billion as at December 31, 2024. Ontario Teachers' is a fully funded defined benefit pension plan, and it invests in a broad array of asset classes to deliver retirement security for 343,000 working members and pensioners. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
About DONTE GROUP
DONTE GROUP is the first Spanish oral healthcare group created with the purpose of improving dentistry, society, and the planet by making oral health care accessible to everyone—regardless of who they are or the stage of life they are in. The group includes the brands Moonz, Smysecret, Vitaldent, and MAEX, and has a team of over 3,000 professionals and more than 2,300 collaborating dentists, distributed across its 426 clinics. They have treated over 9 million patients.
This is a very interesting acquisition and let me explain how Teachers' became the new majority owner.
A while ago, I had a conversation with Ron Mock, OTPP's former CEO and he explained to me how at the end of a fund life where Teacher's invested and got to know the portfolio companies of the fund extremely well, if they really like a company, they'll make a bid to own it directly, thus owning it longer in their PE book. It's basically another form of direct investing.
In this case, Advent International, a top private equity firm, owned a majority stake in DONTE GROUP which it acquired back in 2019 (see history here) and as their healthcare fund was winding down, they exited portfolio companies and decided to get bids from LPs (who invested in their fund) that are interested in owning these companies outright.
Ontario Teachers' decided to make a bid on the company, valuing the business at €1 billion.
That's a significant acquisition given their healthcare portfolio is CAD$6 billion.
The investment professional overseeing this deal is Inaki Echave, Senior Managing Director and Head of EMEA Private Capital at Ontario Teachers’:
Iñaki Echave leads the EMEA Private Capital team from our London office.
Iñaki is a seasoned investor with over 20 years of international experience and a specific focus in the technology and financial sectors. He has held several senior positions in private equity, as Managing Director of Blackstone Private Equity in London, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) Direct Investments in Europe and Director of BHL (UK) Holdings. Previously, Iñaki was a partner at Magnum Capital and Ventura EP and has worked for 3i, JP Morgan Partners and Bain & Co.
Iñaki has an MBA from INSEAD in France and a double degree in business and law from ICADE in Spain.
He previously worked at Blackstone, CPP Investments and 3i where he probably met Jo Taylor, OTPP's CEO.
He has been behind some very important deals at OTPP and this one is definitely big.
It's also worth noting that Teachers' Global Equities team has experienced leaders managing their healthcare portfolio:
As far as the DONTE GROUP, they are a leading dental provider in Spain, operating one of the largest clinic networks, with over 426 clinics and 2,200 dentists delivering general, premium, and pediatric dental care across four brands: Vitaldent, Smysecret, Moonz, and MAEX. The Group has built a strong reputation for clinical quality and patient experience.
The group is led by CEO Javier Martín Ocaña (featured at the top of this post) who oversees a team of 5,000 professionals.
I read that DONTE GROUP reached a turnover of 361.9 million euros in 2023, almost 7% more than the previous year:
Madrid, 21st May 2024
DONTE GROUP, the leading oral care group in Spain, and all its brands – Moonz, Vitaldent, Smysecret and MAEX – recorded sales of 361.9 million euros in 2023, up 6.9% YoY, “which is more than twice the market’s growth rate”, according to Javier Martín, CEO of DONTE GROUP.
This growth is supported not only by the organic growth of its clinics day by day, but also by the incorporation of a total of 16 clinics by DONTE GROUP under all its brands – Moonz, Vitaldent, Smysecret and MAEX – in the last year, and by the expansion plan that the company has developed. DONTE GROUP currently has a network of 409 clinics throughout Spain.
“We are very satisfied with the achievements of DONTE GROUP in 2023, a year that has meant the consolidation of our project as a leading company working to make oral health care accessible to everyone”, said the CEO of DONTE GROUP, adding that “all our brands, from Moonz, which focuses on the oral health of children, to Smysecret, a brand specialising in dental aesthetics, Vitaldent, our flagship brand with 388 clinics, and finally MAEX, the brand that focuses on the expertise and excellence of the renowned professionals who work in its clinics, have all recorded growth in sales”.
DONTE GROUP’s commitment to the oral health market in Spain, covering all dental disciplines, is one of the most comprehensive in the sector in Europe. In these terms, the Group continues to strengthen not only its operational and expansion capacity, but also maintains its upward trend with an increase in its turnover of 30% in the last two financial years. Continuing in this line of increases, in the first four months of 2024, DONTE GROUP has reported a growth close to 6% compared to the same period last year, which clearly accredits its “health”.
The Group has also continue to strengthened its commitment to oral health with a team of more than 5,000 professionals, enabling it to close 2023 with more than 620,000 patients treated in its four brands, 20% more than in 2021. In total, the group has cared for more than 9 million patients since its creation in 1989, 35 years ago.
Capillarity of care
All of DONTE GROUP brands, Vitaldent, Moonz and MAEX, have consolidated their presence in Spain, bringing oral health closer to the population and collaborating to establish the necessary mechanisms to guarantee territorial equity in Spain. As a result, DONTE GROUP closed 2023 with a total of 409 clinics, increasing its healthcare offer by 20% compared to 2021.
In particular the Vitaldent brand has attended more than 583,000 patients and has increased its presence with 11 new centres .“Over the next few years (2024-2028) we want Vitaldent to reach smaller towns (between 20,000 and 40,000 inhabitants), where the brand is not currently present and where we think we can offer a quality service”, says Javier Martín.
For its part, Moonz, DONTE GROUP’s flagship dedicated to children’s dental health, grew in 2023 with 2 new clinics, allowing it to treat more than 8,800 patients, 27% more than at the end of 2022, and MAEX, a benchmark in the dental practice of excellence, was strengthened with the addition of 2 new experts, closing the year with a total of 5 highly specialised centres and more than 9,500 clients treated. “At MAEX we believe there is still a long way to go, as our ambition is to have no fewer than 50 centres spread across the different provinces, always in the world of super- specialisation”, says the CEO of DONTE GROUP.
During the first four months of this year, DONTE GROUP has added 4 new centres through openings and/or acquisitions. Over the next eight months, 15 new Vitaldent clinics are planned openings or acquisitions of independent centres); 12 changes of location and no less than 12 integral refurbishments, as well as the expansion of 8 new centres under the MAEX brand.
Efficient innovation
On the other hand, continuing with its commitment to innovation and technology, DONTE GROUP continued its commitment in 2023 on the digital transformation of this healthcare practice, implementing from artificial intelligence (AI) software in its clinics, with models that help the dentist in the diagnosis and design of smiles, to systems to plan and predict the evolution of their treatments, and/or monitor remote dental treatments of patients, or video consultations.
“The technological revolution is a differentiating element of DONTE GROUP and is essential to offer value to our professionals, our patients and our shareholders. We have a solid technological development project based on 3D printing and guided surgery techniques that we intend to implement in a total of 200 of the group’s clinics next year; we continue to meet patient demand by focusing on conscious sedation techniques and the incorporation of new services, such as the use of plasma to facilitate the post-operative period in certain procedures”, explains the CEO of DONTE GROUP.
Interestingly, DONTE GROUP does not only operate in Spain. While they are a leading oral healthcare group in Spain, with over 400 clinics and a strong presence across the country, they also have one clinic in London, United Kingdom. DONTE GROUP's goal is to expand its reach in oral healthcare, and while their primary focus is currently in Spain, they have also made international steps with a clinic in London.
Also worth noting these type of businesses are less cyclical and provide steady cash flows, perfect match for private equity portfolios.
It is quite an impressive story and with the backing of Teachers', I'm certain the group will continue to expand its clinics in Spain and throughout Europe.
Its commitment to providing oral healthcare for all, driving the democratization of oral healthcare also fits well with Ontario Teachers' values and its commitment to responsible investing.
In Canada, the Canadian Dental Care Plan was recently launched to cover dental care for Canadians who are not on a plan and while it's a step in the right direction, it provides the very basics and is not supported by all dental clinics.
I personally paid over $2,000 for dental care over the past 12 months, makes me wonder why Medicare doesn't cover dental care expenses.
Healthcare clinics are booming in Canada due to strains on the healthcare system and aging demographics.
If I was a private equity fund, I'd try to buy all the radiology clinics in Quebec, Ontario and BC which are booming and printing money.
Anyway, healthcare is a field that fascinates me for a lot of reasons, runs in the family.
Let me end this comment by noting that OTPP also recently announced the sale of Sahyadri Hospitals:
Mumbai, India: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its majority stake in Sahyadri Hospitals Group (Sahyadri) to Manipal Hospitals. Manipal Hospitals is one of the top healthcare providers in India serving over 7 million patients annually, with a focus on providing affordable, high-quality healthcare services. Manipal Hospitals is backed by Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore with net portfolio value of US$324b as on Mar 31, 2025.
Ontario Teachers’ acquired a majority stake in Sahyadri in 2022 and, since then, has supported its growth into one of India’s leading regional healthcare platforms. Today, Sahyadri is one of Maharashtra’s largest hospital chains, with 11 hospitals and over 1,400 beds, delivering best-in-class healthcare to millions across the region.
The investment was made by Ontario Teachers’ Private Capital team, in partnership with management and led by Abrarali Dalal. Sahyadri has undergone a significant transformation over the past three years, growing both organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions. Ontario Teachers’ has supported the business in building clinical leadership and attracting medical talent in key specialties, while making sustained capital investments into infrastructure, medical equipment, specialty programs and institutional governance. The platform has also expanded its reach in smaller cities of Maharashtra, enabling the delivery of high-quality quaternary care across Maharashtra and neighboring areas.
Deepak Dara, Senior Managing Director and Head of India, Ontario Teachers’, said, “Healthcare is a key investment theme for us globally and in India. Drawing on our global experience and playbook of investing in healthcare services, we saw the potential to build on Sahyadri’s strong brand to create a regional healthcare leader. Our partnership with Sahyadri over the past 3 years underscores our belief in India’s growing healthcare needs and our commitment to empowering local champions in delivering high-quality, accessible care. We wish the Sahyadri team continued success as they transition into their next phase.”
Rahul Mukim, Managing Director, Private Capital, Ontario Teachers’, added, “Our partnership with Sahyadri over the past three years has been focused on unlocking long-term value – investing behind key specialties and medical technology, expanding reach across the state and building institutional processes to strengthen the platform. I would like to thank Abrarali Dalal, the management team and the clinicians and doctors at Sahyadri for their partnership and wish them every success in their next chapter with Manipal. ”
Abrarali Dalal, Managing Director and CEO of Sahyadri Hospitals said, “When Ontario Teachers’ invested, our intention was to create a formidable regional player with the infrastructure, medical equipment and clinical excellence to enable high-quality medical care in cities across the region. Backed by strong shareholder support, we’ve been able to invest over INR 900 crores since 2022, leveraging our combined expertise to drive the transformation of Sahyadri. We’ve enjoyed a great partnership with the Ontario Teachers’ team and are optimistic about the platform’s continued positive impact on healthcare delivery.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.
Ontario Teachers’ was supported by a team of advisors including Jefferies and Alvarez & Marsal (financial), Latham & Watkins and Trilegal (legal), and EY (accounting, tax and commercial).
About Ontario Teachers’
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $266.3 billion as at December 31, 2024. Ontario Teachers' is a fully funded defined benefit pension plan, and it invests in a broad array of asset classes to deliver retirement security for 343,000 working members and pensioners. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
About Sahyadri Hospitals
Sahyadri Hospitals is one of the largest chain of hospitals in Maharashtra, with 11 hospitals across four cities of Pune, Nashik, Ahilyanagar and Karad. The hospital chain has over 1,400 Beds, ~2,500 Clinicians and 3,500 Supporting Staff providing round the clock healthcare. With a strong commitment to accessible and quality healthcare, Sahyadri Hospitals has positively impacted the lives of over 7.5 million patients, both in Maharashtra and internationally. To know more: http://sahyadrihospital.com/
I vaguely remember covering this deal. I'm not sure if the sale of Sahyadri Hospitals has anything to do with the acquisition of DENTAL GROUP but it sounds to me that Teachers' made the right investments since 2022 and then reached out to Temasek which owns Manipal Hospitals and the fit was right to acquire it.
Anyway, a couple of interesting deals at Teacher's Private Capital this July.
Below, an ad from DONTE GROUP. You don't have to speak Spanish to appreciate it. How long before DONTE GROUP opens up clinics in Canada and the US?
Comments
Post a Comment