Bestway family likely to acquire dentistry giant IDH for £700m

THE Pervez family-owned Bestway Group is likely to takeover IDH Group, Britain’s largest dentistry chains for £700 million, reported Sky News.

Bestway and the private equity firm Bridgepoint, which used to own dentistry business Oasis, are said to have indicated that they would be prepared to offer more than £700m for IDH, which runs about 600 practices across the UK.

A successful offer from Bestway would take it into another area of the healthcare industry, the report said.

In 2014, Bestway acquired the Co-operative Group's pharmacy business for £620m, and has successfully built it into the biggest independent chain in Britain - and the largest behind Boots and Lloyd's.

More recently, it acquired Costcutter to expand its wholesale operations.

Bestway now ranks as the UK's 17th-largest privately owned company, according to its website.

According to reports, Carlyle and Palamon, IDH's existing owners, were likely to decide on a preferred bidder in the coming weeks.

It is unclear whether the current shareholders will see a meaningful return because of the level of debt within IDH. Bestway and Carlyle declined to comment.

Founded by Sir Anwar Pervez in 1976, the family remains at the helm of Bestway Group with nephew, Lord Zameer Choudrey CEO of the group, and Sir Anwar’s son, Dawood Pervez, as Managing Director of Bestway Wholesale.