GE Capital backs BMI Healthcare leasing facility

Alternative lender GE Capital has extended a £6 million (€8.1 million; $9.2 million) structured leasing facility to BMI Healthcare (BMI), the UK’s largest private acute hospital operator, the firm said in a statement.

BMI Healthcare provides treatment to national health service (NHS), privately insured and self-pay patients in 58 locations across the UK.

The funding has been used to bring the latest MRI and CT diagnostic imaging technology to six of its flagship hospitals: The Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle (Cheshire), The Chiltern Hospital in Great Missenden (Buckinghamshire), Bath Clinic (Somerset), Ross Hall Hospital in Glasgow, Thornbury Hospital in Sheffield (South Yorkshire), and The Highfield Hospital in Rochdale (Lancashire). 

More than half of the equipment has been ordered from GE Capital’s sister company GE Healthcare.

“The need to improve productivity and efficiency are the key drivers in these types of investment decisions but finding a way to replace expensive deteriorating equipment in the most cost-effective way can be a headache,” Jeremy Knight, head of healthcare finance at GE Capital UK, said in a statement. “Structured leasing not only offers immediate savings and a boost in productivity but it also lowers maintenance costs and allows more frequent upgrades of equipment to maximise operational performance over time.”

Craig Lovelace, chief financial officer at BMI Healthcare, also commented: “We have been impressed with GE Capital’s knowledge of the healthcare industry as well as their finance expertise and commitment to meeting our specific needs. Alongside the reconfiguration of some of the older parts of our hospital estate, this new funding package allows us the flexibility to complete essential equipment upgrades, improve productivity and enhance the care we provide to our patients.”