Advent International investment fund is preparing to sign the takeover of the controlling interest in private medical clinic network Centrul Medical Unirea in a deal put at some 40 million euros, market sources told ZF.

The investment fund, which would thus be making its first investment in the local healthcare sector, is taking over about 70-80% in the network from 3i investment fund and cardiologist Wargha Enayati. Enayati will retain a 20-30% stake.

The company is valued at more than 50 million euros, according to ZF data, so that a deal involving over 70% of the shares would be worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 million euros. If signed, the takeover of CMU will be the biggest deal in the local medical service industry, an about 400 million-euro market that continues to grow despite the difficult economy.

The 3i first revealed plans to sell last October and the list of interested parties included 15 names of both investment funds and strategic investors. It later shrank to eight, then to three and eventually narrowed down to two. In this last phase, talks were conducted with Advent and Mid Europa Partners, also an investment fund, according to ZF's information.

"There is a trend towards a specific direction, but nothing has been formalised yet," said Enayati, who did not want to reveal anything more. He, however, said that a final decision was to be made around 7th or 8th of February. Enayati had previously said that talks were being conducted with two investment funds without disclosing their names.

Advent officials did not provide any comment by the time the story was ready for print. 3i officials would not comment on the information at hand.

CMU had budgeted 4.6 million-euro EBITDA for last year, which it did attain. According to preliminary data, CMU posted 69.5 million RON (16.5 million euros) turnover, an inc