Greece-based Hygeia Group said on August 23 it completed the sale of its wholly-owned loss-making subsidiary in Albania, Hygeia Hospital Tirana (HHT), to Tirana-based American Hospital.

With the acquisition of its key rival, Albania’s largest private hospital, American Hospital, has consolidated its position in the country’s private healthcare system.

HHT was set up around 40 years ago with €60mn initial investments. However, “The consideration for the [sale] transaction amounts to €1mn,” Hygeia Group said in a statement.

The purchaser, American Hospital, assumes the liabilities of HHT amounting to total €29.5mn, including HHT’s long-term borrowings of around €19mn and liabilities to Hygeia Group of approximately €2.5mn, the statement added. The consideration will be used in its entirety to reduce the company’s bank borrowings.

Hygeia, set up in 1970, owns four hospitals in Greece and Albania, with a total capacity of 1,261 licensed beds and 52 operating rooms. It is active in primary and secondary healthcare, as well as in the area of research, production and trading of cosmetics.

Hygeia Group is a subsidiary of Marfin Investment Group.

The American Hospital in Tirana was established in December 2006 as the first private hospital in Albania and operates six hospitals in Albania and Kosovo.

Hygeia is the third major Greek company to leave Albania in 2018 after the sale of two Greek bank subsidiaries earlier this year.

Albanian citizens are estimated to spend about €60mn per year in private hospitals, whose number has significantly increased in the past decade.