As I delivered that final DBS workshop in Edinburgh, the news came through that James Hull had sold a £20 million stake in his own company to a city investment bank. (Read more)The purpose of the investment is to finance the creation and acquisition of new, private, dental clinics offering cosmetic dentistry as well as “botox fillers, laser treatments and corrective ear surgery”, to be marketed by Hull’s new company, F.A.C.E. Ltd – Facial Aesthetics Centre of Excellence Ltd.
I’m desribing this as a red letter day because it signals the arrival of serious City capital back into the world of private dentistry, after Integrated Dental Holdings sold a stake to Legal & General Ventures earlier this year to finance the expansion of the largest NHS service provider.
The money is back in dentistry – and we have practice incorporation as well – so you can expect to see more companies looking at the private UK dental market (projected at over £5bn per annum within the next 5 years) and maybe my much-predicted “Pizza Express dentistry” is just around the corner.
Listen carefully and you will hear the approaching stampede of capital backed dental principals, looking for ways to grow their business and steal your patients away from you.
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Dinner last night at Orocco Pier – a beautiful restaurant, spectacular views of the Forth Bridge and, as I arrive, the South Queensferry Christmas lights are switched on and we enjoy a firework display over the estuary.
Customer service in the restaurant is spot on and my oysters and fillet steak wake me at 2.00am this morning.