St James close to buying Capua Hospital

St James Hospital is in an "advanced stage" of negotiations to buy Capua Hospital in Sliema, owned by AX Holdings.

The takeover would include Capua's equipment, but exclude the adjacent old Capua Palace building which would be retained by AX.

Angelo Xuereb, AX Holdings chairman, yesterday addressed Capua Hospital employees to inform them about the developments.

The company said in a statement after the meeting that Mr Xuereb told the workers that over the past two years the group had had a number of enquiries from international and local companies which were attracted by the positive upswing in Capua's business growth over the last three years.

Mr Xuereb told the staff that the negotiations were very advanced and that evidence of tangible financing had been presented.

St James had started talks with private hospitals as far back as November 1998, when both Capua and St Philip's were being considered.

Soon after that, the government had said it was studying how it could make better use of the facilities offered by private hospitals, in the wake of reports that both Capua and St Philip's were facing financial difficulties.

Mr Xuereb yesterday assured staff that St James Hospital was interested in Capua Hospital as a going concern with all staff on board.

He added that he had personally requested an assurance in the negotiations that any final contract would have to have an entrenched clause guaranteeing that all workers would be taken over and that all existing conditions of employment would be honoured in full.

If the deal went through, both St James and Capua would be offering a number of positive synergistic contributions to the new venture, Mr Xuereb said.

The takeover would give the hospital a boost in technology, an enhanced medical and nursing delivery, and an increasingly pro-active marketing capability, he said.

Staff were assured that this augured well for the growth and expansion of Capua Hospital and its significance in the private health care sector.

A representative of the UHM, with whom the management of AX Holdings has discussed its plans and its safeguards for Capua Hospital employees, was also present at the meeting.

St James Hospital managing director Josie Muscat confirmed that discussions were at an advanced stage.

"We tried to acquire Capua Hospital before but we never got there. This time we're closer, though we have not finalised matters."

Dr Muscat said his first wish was to build another hospital in Tarxien, but his application had been pending with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the past three years.

"Ideally we wanted another hospital in the south but we couldn't wait any longer."

He said that the two hospitals in Zabbar and Sliema would work as two separate entities should the agreement go through. The Sliema hospital would likely be called Capua St James Hospital.

Dr Muscat said he had no intention of closing the Zabbar hospital - on the contrary, it would be beefed up further in the months to come.

But because of its limited space, the hospital was often refusing patients, he said.

Dr Muscat would not comment further about the deal for the time being.

A meeting was also held for St James Hospital employees last night to inform them about the developments.

Capua Hospital has 80 beds and five operating theatres and was completed in 1996 at a cost of Lm7.5 million, incorporating the Capua Palace, which was built by banker Biagio Tagliaferro in 1835 and which later became the residence of the Prince of Capua.

St James Hospital runs a 17-bed hospital in Zabbar, which boasts state-of-the-art equipment, including a full radiology system, an MRI, and a slice spiral CT scanner.

St James also owns a specialised eye clinic in Sliema, two out-patient clinics in St Julian's and Mosta, and Transforma, a cosmetic dermatology clinic in Attard.