DGAP-News: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG: Marburg Ion Beam Therapy operating firm of Heidelberg University Hospital mbH files insolvency petition

Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale | September 14^th, 2018

Corporate News

Marburg Ion Beam Therapy operating firm of Heidelberg University Hospital mbH files insolvency petition
 

• The Management of Marburg Ion Beam Therapy operating firm of Heidelberg University Hospital mbH files insolvency petition in self-administration
   
• Lack of understanding and regret on the part of the minority shareholder RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG due to the different reporting by the management to date
   
• RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG calls on sole business operator Heidelberg University Hospital to ensure ongoing patient care
   
• Insolvency application of MIT GmbH has no effect on the financial result and the revenue and earnings outlook of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG for 2018 and subsequent years

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has been informed that the Managing Director of the Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Center (MIT) has filed an application for insolvency and self-administration of MIT with the Heidelberg Local Court. According to the information available, the Local Court of Heidelberg has ordered the temporary self-administration of MIT. We regret this surprising decision. Against the background of the different information that we had received from the Heidelberg management of MIT only weeks earlier, we as a minority shareholder are unable to understand the insolvency. RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG regards the rapid continuation of patient treatment as its top priority and therefore appeals to the management of MIT and the University Hospital Heidelberg to take appropriate measures.

Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Center (MIT) operating firm was founded in 2014 as a subsidiary of Heidelberg University Hospital (75.1 percent) and RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG (24.9 percent). Responsibility for the business operations of the particle therapy facility lies with the management of MIT GmbH and the majority shareholder, Heidelberg University Hospital, including the Medical Director and the Scientific and Technical Director of the Heidelberg Ion Beam Centre (HIT). RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has no influence on the operating business of the company, although it has continuously contributed a large part of the patient flow to the company.

To date, 186 patients have been treated in the current year, of which 143 patients were assigned by the University Hospital Gießen und Marburg GmbH and 40 patients by the majority shareholder Heidelberg University Hospital. A further three patients were assigned via other clinics. Since June 2018, Heidelberg University Hospital has assigned three patients (approximately 4 percent) out of a total of 70 patients to MIT.

The medical care of the patients at the particle therapy facility in Marburg is provided by the University Hospital of Heidelberg, which is also a contractual partner of the health insurance companies. Since the start of operation, around 640 patients have been treated at the Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Centre. In 2017, a total of 284 patients were treated with radiation. The facility was built by Siemens AG in 2007
and 2008.

Dr. Gunther K. Weiß, member of the Management Board of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG and Chairman of the Management Board of University Hospital Gießen und Marburg, says: "We have ultra-modern radiotherapy clinics at the two locations of University Hospital Gießen and Marburg. Nevertheless, from the beginning of patient irradiation in 2015, we have continuously made great efforts as a minority shareholder to further increase the number of patients treated at the Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Centre if the corresponding diagnoses are available, within the scope of our limited possibilities as a minority shareholder. In particular, Prof. Dr. Rita Engenhart-Cabillic, Director of the Clinic for Radiotherapy at the University Hospital Gießen and Marburg (UKGM), and her team have rendered outstanding services to MIT. In addition, as an expression of our good will, we voluntarily waived interest and redemption payments on our extensive loans in June 2017 until MIT's earnings situation improved, and also refunded the interest income already received to MIT.

The management of MIT GmbH has justified its decision to file for insolvency with, among other things, the intensified competition due to the development of new and alternative therapy methods and the construction of significantly cheaper plants in Germany and abroad.

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG will cooperate constructively with MIT and the provisional administrator in order to achieve the best possible solution for the patients, but also for the employees of MIT, within the framework of the insolvency proceedings now initiated. The employees of MIT are not employees of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG or UKGM.

Outlook

Due to the risk provisions already made in previous years, there will be no effects on the financial result or on the revenue and EBITDA targets of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. We therefore continue to confirm our previous forecast for the current 2018 financial year. Revenues in the amount of EUR 1.24 billion in a range of 5 % upwards and 5 % downwards are expected. Burdening regulatory interventions by the legislator, such as lower remuneration for material cost-intensive services, especially in the area of cardiac medicine, or the fixed cost degression discount for additional services, must be taken into account. We expect earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in 2018 to be significantly higher than in 2017 at between EUR 117.5 million and EUR 127.5 million - positively influenced, among other effects, by the agreement on the separation invoice at the UKGM.

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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG is one of the largest healthcare service providers in Germany. The clinic group offers excellent medicine with direct connections to universities and research facilities. More than 830,000 patients are treated annually at the five locations Zentralklinik Bad Berka, Campus Bad Neustadt, Klinikum Frankfurt (Oder), Universitätsklinikum Gießen and Universitätsklinikum Marburg (UKGM). Around 16,700 employees work here. With the RHÖN Campus concept, the company is currently implementing a new and forward-looking project that will raise cross-sector medical care in rural areas to a new level of excellence and is oriented towards the growing needs of patients. www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

Contact
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG | Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing
Elke Pfeifer
T. +49 9771 65-1327 | elke.pfeifer@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG
Corporate Communications
T. +49 9771 65-1327 | kommunikation@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
 

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG | Head of Investor Relations
Julian Schmitt
T. + 49 9771 65-1536 | julian.schmitt@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com