Northern Ireland family healthcare business drives European expansion with acquisition of Belgium firms

Northern Ireland family-owned healthcare business has acquired Belgium-based Alphamédis and its sister company, Medexia in Luxembourg

The move by Eakin Healthcare reflects its ambitious international growth strategy into this sector which is designed to meet the needs of the stoma and continence care community.

Headquartered in County Down, Eakin Healthcare specialises in manufacturing and supplying medical devices for ostomy, wound, respiratory and surgical needs and recently celebrated its milestone 50th anniversary.

This acquisition follows the success of Respond, Eakin Healthcare’s award-winning UK prescription and dispensing home delivery and support service. As well as dispensing essential ostomy supplies it also provides a network of friendly support, information and expert advice.

In November, the firm also revealed plans to establish a new ostomy centre of excellence at its International headquarters in Comber with £19million investment.

Supported by Invest Northern Ireland, the investment in research and development will enable Eakin Healthcare to add pilot lines including skin friendly medical adhesives and the creation of the next generation of ostomy pouches.

Revealing more ambitious plans and the recent acquisition, Stuart Welland, chief commercial officer for ostomy at Eakin Healthcare, explained: “Ensuring our patients’ needs are met is at the heart of everything we do. We are proud of our track record in delivering a reliable service that our customers love and trust. We have ambitious plans for international strategic growth and have worked hard to build our Northern European Infrastructure.

"The experienced teams at both Alphamédis in Belgium and Medexia in Luxembourg have been expertly providing a quality service to thousands of patients for many years will add great value to our team.

"Combined with our Eakin Healthcare Netherlands business we are very excited about our full Benelux offering and the value we feel we can bring to our customers.

“We warmly welcome both teams into Eakin Healthcare and are excited to use the advantage of our combined knowledge and passion for patient care to expand in these strategically significant territories.”

Boasting products and services available in over 60 countries internationally, Eakin Healthcare has now over 700 employees spanning nine countries with sites and subsidiaries in the UK, Netherlands, France, Japan and Germany.

Eakin Healthcare continues to invest significantly in its people, research and development opportunities and capital projects in support of its future growth ambitions.

It recently achieved the prestigious ‘Great Place to Work’ accreditation following a survey of all its employees.

Welcoming the deal, Olivier Stangret, managing director of Alphamédis and Medexia, added: “We’re hugely excited to have been acquired by Eakin Healthcare, a family-owned company with an excellent global reputation in the world of Ostomy.

"They have already made our teams feel very welcome into the business and we’re looking forward to bringing our ambitious plans to fruition together.”

The acquisition takes immediate effect with no change to company names or brands. All employees of Alphamédis and Medexia will automatically transfer to Eakin Healthcare.

Alphamédis and Medexia were both privately owned by KMT Medical Inc.