RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG / Legal Matter/Miscellaneous
17.01.2008
Release of a Corporate-announcement, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale
Decision in cartel proceeding 'Rhön-Grabfeld District Hospitals'
Federal High Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof BGH) dismisses appeal
by RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG
Groups expansion strategy remains unchanged
Board of Management chairman Pföhler: 'Time for the German legislator to
act.'
Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale, 17 January 2008 ----- The Federal High Court of
Justice (BGH) yesterday dismissed the appeal filed by RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG in
the cartel proceeding 'Rhön-Grabfeld district hospitals at Bad Neustadt and
Mellrichstadt sites'. It has thus been decided with final effect that a
takeover of the hospitals owned by the District of Rhön-Grabfeld is not
possible. A written form of the reasons for the judgement is expected to
appear in the next two weeks to three months.
On 10 March 2005 the Federal Cartel Office prohibited the takeover of the
two district hospitals by RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. The Company lodged an appeal
against this before the Düsseldorf Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht
OLG). On 11 April 2007, the OLG Düsseldorf dismissed the appeal.
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG then appealed to the BGH for a fundamental clarification
of this legal issue.
The Groups growth strategy remains unaffected by todays decision. Board
of Management chairman Wolfgang Pföhler: 'This decision does not stand in
the way of our growth. Today our Company owns 46 of Germanys 2,100
hospitals that corresponds to a market share of barely three percent.' As
a result, he added, the growth opportunities are obvious. To quote Pföhler
again: 'We see a lot of white spots on the map for us which are also
entirely unobjectionable from a cartel-law point of view.'
Given the framework conditions for German healthcare policy shrinking and
greying of the population particularly in rural areas, advances in medical
technology, decline in public funding the Company sees no alternative to
expanding co-operation among facilities across various sites and sectors.
Only in this way could comprehensive healthcare delivery meeting high
medical standards be ensured on a sustained basis, also in rural regions.
Pföhler clarifies that especially RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG sees competition as an
important key to the further development of the healthcare industry. It is
only thanks to competition that new approaches to healthcare delivery can
be taken to meet the growing demands of an aging society. The cartel-law
approach taken so far does not appear conducive to this goal.
Pföhler therefore repeated his call for a new cartel-law basis for the
hospital market: 'It is now the task of the legislator to create the basis
for people in all regions of Germany to be provided with the best-possible
medical care also in the future. Policymakers will have to clarify to what
extent the goals of high-quality, uniform and efficient healthcare delivery
as provided for by the legislator in the German Social Insurance Code have
to be reflected in cartel-law decisions.
Brigitte Sallwey
Sallwey & Partner
Grüneburgweg 41
60322 Frankfurt
Tel.: +49(069) 97 203 628
Fax: +49 (069) 97 203 627
e-mail: sallwey@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
DGAP 17.01.2008
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Language: English
Issuer: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG
Schlossplatz 1
97616 Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)9771 - 65-0
Fax: +49 (0)9771 - 97 467
E-mail: fire.ir@rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
Internet: www.rhoen-klinikum-ag.com
ISIN: DE0007042301
WKN: 704230
Indices: MDAX
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), München;
Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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DGAP-News: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG: Decision in cartel proceeding
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