Nomura invests in UK health

The private equity group of Japanese investment bank Nomura has invested £15 million (€21 million; $28 million) in Nations Healthcare Ltd, a company that has contracts to operate three Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs) in the UK. Nomura will be the company's only institutional investor.
 
ISTCs are being created in order to provide new buildings and clinical pathways as part of the UK government's plan to reduce NHS waiting lists. One of Nations Healthcare's three centres will be a small day care centre in Bradford. The others, in Burton-upon-Trent and at the Queen's Medical Centre Nottingham, will be larger and will include outpatient services.
 
Nations Healthcare is a managing company with its origins in a consortium of medical and infrastructure organisations including Same-Day Surgery, a provider of ambulatory surgery in the Chicago area; leading US hospital John Hopkins International; and the Harvard School of Public Health.
 
Nomura's private equity group was created in 1997 to invest its parent bank's own funds. It makes late stage investments in the US and Europe, focusing on healthcare services, communications infrastructure, and enterprise infrastructure, including security, storage and systems management. It has invested in 50 companies including IT company enCommerce, internet security company NetForensics, and wireless broadband provider ArrayComm.
 
Nations Healthcare is the first investment made by the group's dedicated healthcare private equity team since its formation last spring.