Diagnostyka

Drawing on its deep healthcare experience, MidEuropa recognised the attractive consolidation opportunity for laboratory services in Poland to create the #1 Polish clinical laboratories chain.

 

The highly fragmented diagnostics market had been crying out for professionalisation and offered significant benefits through economies of scale. Since MidEuropa’s 2011 investment, Diagnostyka has completed 128 follow-on acquisitions (at the time of the IPO in 2025), which, combined with strong and consistent organic growth, have created an undisputed market leader.

 

For over a decade, MidEuropa had identified patient diagnostics, both imaging and laboratory, as very promising, long-term growth sub-sectors within the healthcare services market. This was because of significant under-penetration and the relatively low long-term cost of providing services which have a high positive impact on healthcare outcomes, by emphasising early detection and preventive treatments. 

In early 2011, MidEuropa acquired a strategic stake in Diagnostyka with a view to consolidate the highly fragmented clinical laboratories and imaging diagnostics market in Poland. The investment thesis was based on the recognition that the Polish population is underserved by the underfunded public system, there is growing demand for testing as part of preventive medicine, and evolving expectations that an increasingly affluent and ageing population is driving growth in private healthcare services in Poland.  

At the time of the 2025 IPO, Diagnostyka remained unique among its European peers in that it sources its patients though a well-diversified mix of referral and payor channels: 

• Serving patients through a capillary nation-wide network of over 1,100 own blood collection points, where patients can access the testing services and pay for them either directly out-of-pocket or through private insurance,
• Providing outsourced testing services to the private sector chains of healthcare clinics and hospitals, as well as to individual GPs throughout Poland,
• Selectively offering laboratory outsourcing services to public hospitals.

Diagnostyka became the partner of choice for the most prominent medical chains in Poland because it boasted the highest quality standards, the broadest service offering, and the convenience of the only true nationwide coverage – all supported by rapid and reliable logistics. 

 

Strong organic growth supplemented by market consolidation

MidEuropa’s investment unlocked Diagnostyka’s ability to source, analyse, structure, and finance new add-on targets and evolve into a very credible institutional buyer on the clinical laboratory market. Following its significant acquisition of Fryda Laboratories shortly after its 2011 partnership with MidEuropa, Diagnostyka rapidly developed the expertise and reputation for successfully acquiring and integrating a number of targets, expanding geographic coverage as well as its service offering portfolio. Despite this fast-paced consolidation over the past decade, more than half of the market remains highly fragmented, leaving ample space for further dynamic acquisitive growth. Moreover, Diagnostyka began expanding into new business lines with its first diagnostic imaging acquisition in 2023.

The buy-and-build strategy worked to supplement the uniquely strong organic growth of the Polish medical testing market. As the domestic market continues to lag Western Europe and parts of Central Europe in testing penetration and in value of tests, the market is expected to continue to expand in volume and value over the long term. 

 

Operational excellence

Integrating businesses post-acquisition is an essential part of the value creation plan. For Diagnostyka, a major draw  of the companies it acquired was the in-house laboratory experts, and Diagnostyka has made a priority of attracting and retaining this talent through the integration process. New businesses are seamlessly integrated into the company’s proprietary IT system to enable them to operate as part of the broader network immediately post-acquisition. 

Diagnostyka constantly optimised its laboratory footprint to improve efficiency. At the time of the 2025 IPO, the company operated 156 diagnostic laboratories and 19 diagnostic imaging facilities. In 2021, the company launched a new state-of-the-art facility in Warsaw, and, at over 10,000 square metres and the ability to process 250,000 tests daily, it is one of the largest and most modern clinical laboratories in Central Europe.

Management’s laser focus on revenue growth, quality of medical outcomes, and maintaining cost efficiency has allowed Diagnostyka to generate impressive growth and market-leading margins, despite charging some of the lowest prices in Europe.

 

IPO exit

MidEuropa exited the investment via an IPO in February 2025. At the time of listing, the Diagnostyka IPO was one of the largest IPOs on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the preceding five years and raised gross proceeds of just over €400 million for MidEuropa’s investors, with the company’s market capitalisation reaching over €1 billion in the first hours of trading.