Tunstall sell controlling interest to Charterhouse

Charterhouse Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has acquired a controlling interest in The Tunstall Group, in a transaction totalling £514m.

The company’s existing management and selling shareholders will retain an interest valued at £66m on the same terms as Charterhouse.

James Buckley, chief executive of Tunstall Group, said: “I am delighted to be working with Charterhouse to realise our vision of improving the quality of life for many more people in the future. Telecare plays a key role in delivering personalised care to support people with health and social care needs, their families and carers.

“Our aim is to offer even more enhanced levels of support, drive forward our technology plans and work with our customers to provide effective solutions for a diverse range of people across the globe and I believe we have found the right team to help us achieve our ambitions.”

Tunstall provides telecare to 30 countries worldwide, supporting over 2.5m people.

In the UK, it is part of the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency’s National Framework Agreement for telecare, and has recently changed its business focus from reactive social alarms to proactive, preventative telecare and telehealth technologies.

Jeremy Greenhalgh, partner for Charterhouse added: “It is clear that Tunstall is a very successful business with attractive solutions in a market that is experiencing ageing demographics and the emergence of lifestyle epidemics such as obesity and chronic disease.

“Governments around the world are recognising the compelling economics of telecare and telehealth and I am looking forward to working with the Tunstall team to deliver its plans for the future.”

Bridgepoint, Tunstall’s previous majority shareholder, who backed a £225m buyout in June 2005 - will reinvest to take a minority interest in the business.

Christine Chang, healthcare technology analyst for Datamonitor, told EHI: “Telehealth is an emerging market with great potential to increase the quality of care, improve the delivery of care and decrease costs. Today’s strong customer base will continue to grow as the benefits of telehealth become more apparent. However, the work flow processes and technology need to improve before telehealth adoption becomes more widespread.”

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Tunstall

Charterhouse Capital Partners http://www.charterhouse.co.uk/