Mid Europa Partners, a private equity fund, plans to sell Lux Med, one of Poland’s top providers of private medical services, by the end of 2012.

“We are preparing to launch the sale of Lux Med and I presume it will start in September,” Zbigniew Rekusz, Mid Europa partner in Warsaw, told Reuters, adding that “we wish to sign the final sale agreement this year.”

The transaction is likely to attract bids estimated at around zł.1 billion, Reuters wrote.
Polish media has speculated that insurer PZU, Britain’s Bupa, Vienna Insurance Group and Italy’s Generali could be among the bidders for Lux Med, which has more than one million clients and controls 72 medical centers.

However, PZU has said the Lux Med valuation is too high for a takeover.

“Yes, we are interested in this market segment and Lux Med, but our final decision will depend on pricing,” PZU management board member Ryszard Trepczyński told Reuters.

“The valuation that the press speculates on, the initial expectations of the investor, that is EBITDA times in the teens, from a business point of view are out of the question,” he added.