Diederik Schrijvershof, Martijn van de Hel and Annabel Kingma assisted Stichting Omring and Stichting Vrijwaard in obtaining NZa and ACM approval for their merger.
On 25 February 2019, the Dutch Healthcare Authority approved the merger. On 16 September 2019, the Authority for Consumers and Markets ("ACM") determined that a license was required for the merger. This license was applied for by the parties on 7 November 2019. Following an oral hearing held in The Hague on 16 June 2020 at the parties' request, ACM decided to grant a conditional licence on 5 August 2020.
Omring and Vrijwaard are both active in the field of elderly care in the municipality of Den Helder. The financial situation of Vrijwaard was the reason for the intended merger with Omring. Now that ACM has given the green light, a long cherished wish of parties and various stakeholders will be fulfilled in order to continue to guarantee the continuity of healthcare in the region through the merger.
The healthcare activities of a limited number of locations of Vrijwaard, where nursing home care and Wmo-financed daytime activities are provided, should be transferred to another healthcare provider. According to ACM, these conditions under which ACM will grant the licence for the merger will mean that there will continue to be sufficient choices as to where the elderly choose to obtain healthcare.
Maverick Advocaten regularly successfully assists mergers of elderly care providers, for some examples see here, here and here.
