How does the dental market look

Without closing periods, the market grew by more than 30% in 2021 to 3.4 billion lei

Article published in the print edition of Ziarul Financiar dated 08/19/2022

Author: Georgiana Mihalache

The business of the top 20 players by revenue represents only 14% of the total generated by the dental market in 2021

♦ In 2021, the market returned to growth, after two months in 2020 when dental practices were closed at the onset of the pandemic.

The dental market in Romania grew by more than 30% in 2021 compared to the previous year, reaching 3.4 billion lei cumulative turnover of the nearly 8,000 companies operating in this field, according to public data.

The growth comes as 2020 was a difficult year for dentistry, with dental clinics closed for two months during the state of emergency generated by the pandemic. This has impacted business in the industry, but investment has picked up and the top players have continued to expand.

Thus, after a year of stagnation, in 2020, the market resumed the growth momentum of previous years, even overtaking the private medical sector, which has been extremely dynamic in recent years.

However, the dentistry segment remains a fragmented one, with the top 20 players by turnover in 2021 occupying only 14% of the market by value, with cumulative business of almost half a billion lei. In total, nearly 20,000 dentists work in dental practices, but the polarization in the medical field is also seen in dentistry, with most businesses being developed in cities.

This translates into poorer access in rural areas where, according to market data, there is one dentist per 4,000 inhabitants. In urban areas, the ratio is one dentist per 580 inhabitants, showing the gap between the two environments. The dental market is predominantly private, with only a few dozen public practices, usually in schools. Moreover, according to Eurostat data, Romania ranks last in the European Union in terms of visits to the dentist.

What dental business looks like

The development of operators in this sector has not taken place at an integrated, group level. Only among companies with larger sales has there been an attempt at consolidation, and operators have opened several clinics in major cities in the country.

The biggest player by turnover is DENT ESTET, with 15 clinics in eight cities across the country. At group level, DENT ESTET passed 107 million lei turnover in 2021, up by almost 60% compared to the previous year. The foundations of DENT ESTET were laid in 1999 by dentist Oana Taban, the company's founder and shareholder. In 2016 the 60% majority stake was taken over by MedLife, the largest player in the private healthcare market.

The second player in the dental market is Implant Expert, the company under which the Dr. Leahu brand, developed by the doctor Ionuț Leahu, operates. The turnover of the private dental operator amounted to 100.7 million lei last year, 70% higher compared to 2020.

The third place in the market is occupied by the Dr. Dobrea brand, which includes two clinics in Bucharest and Iasi, with a spectacular evolution of the business, from 1.8 mil. lei to over 28 mil. lei.

Investment appetite

In the last two years, the dental market has also attracted the attention of investors from private equity funds, which have acquired businesses in this sector in order to develop them.

For example, in 2021, the investment fund EquiLiant Capital, founded by the Pavăl brothers, owners of Dedeman - the most powerful entrepreneurial business in Romania - took a minority stake in the dental clinic network Clinica Victoria, a business with a presence in Pitești, Râmnicu Vâlcea and Slatina.

At the beginning of 2022, the private equity fund Abris Capital Partners announced the acquisition of Dentstore, a Romanian distributor of dental products, with a turnover of 40 million euros in 2021. This marks the third acquisition in the past three years in the dental market for the investment fund, which previously acquired Dentotal, one of the largest distributors of dental products in Romania, as well as Dentatechnica, a distributor of dental products in Bulgaria.

Source: https://www.zfcorporate.ro/pharma/arata-piata-stomatologie-perioade-inchidere-piata-crescut-peste-30-21096624