Laboratory service “Helix” came to Belarus

Helix entered the Belarusian market, its representative said. According to him, the service acquired 100% of the Synevo medical network, the largest private company in the country’s laboratory diagnostics market. Prior to the deal, the firm was part of the Medicover holding, an international provider of medical and diagnostic services. The amount of the transaction is not disclosed. Its estimated cost was 14.5 million euros, according to the Medicover report for the third quarter of 2022.

Synevo operates 58 laboratory facilities in 23 cities of the country, as well as a central laboratory in Minsk. The company performs more than 1,300 tests ranging from biochemistry, immunology and cytology to studies for the diagnosis of rare diseases. This is the only private laboratory in Belarus that has the right to conduct microbiological research. In 2020, it became the first company in the commercial market to offer PCR testing for COVID-19, coronavirus antibody testing, and covid antigen testing, a Helix spokesperson said. Medicover’s revenue in Belarus amounted to 21.7 million euros in 2021.

In 2023, the Synevo network in Belarus is waiting for rebranding, said Yuri Andreichuk, founder and CEO of Helix. Over time, she, according to him, will work under the brand name of the Russian group. By integrating into Helix, Synevo will expand its range of services. Also, the Russian company will bring its achievements in the field of information technology to the Belarusian business, Andreichuk says.

The main risk when entering a new market is insufficient demand for services, says Sergey Shulyak, CEO of the analytical company DSM Group. At the same time, according to him, the number of people with initially diagnosed diseases is growing every year, and public clinics do not always cope with the increased demand. Thus, the client base of laboratory networks will only expand in the future, says Shulyak.

More than 600 diagnostic centers and laboratory stations operate under the Helix brand in 200 cities of Russia and Kazakhstan. The company owns five laboratory complexes with a total area of ​​more than 12,000 sq. m in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk. Helix performs over 3,600 tests for over 2,200 private and 300 public healthcare companies in Russia. The revenue of the laboratory network in 2021 according to RAS amounted to 16.1 billion rubles, net profit – 1.7 billion rubles. The largest owner is the structure of Andreychuk and the company’s CEO Daria Goryakina, she owns 34.38%, another 20.42% of the shares in it belong to Andreychuk directly.