Edinburgh’s largest NHS dental practice sold to Scottish Dental Care

Established over 45 years ago, Mathewson Dental Ltd comprises two high-quality Edinburgh dental practices which offer both NHS and private treatments; St John’s Road Dental Practice in the affluent area of Corstorphine, and East Craigs Dental Practice just one mile away. The group boasts a total of nine fully equipped surgeries and circa 28,500 NHS registered patients and is the largest NHS general dental practice group in Edinburgh.

The business has been owned by Hew and Lorna Mathewson since 1977, at which point it comprised just one practice and circa 2,400 patients. Since then, with their daughter the team has worked tirelessly to grow the group’s reputation and patient base into the successful business it is today.

They recently decided to sell in order to retire from ownership and appointed the services of Christie & Co to search for a buyer that would continue to uphold the level of care that they had nurtured over the years for both staff and patients alike, as well as one that understood the Scottish dental system and could take the business to the next level. Following a confidential sales process, the group has been sold to Scottish Dental Care which owns another 15 practices across Scotland.

Hew Mathewson CBE comments, “From the outset, my family and I were extremely impressed by Christie & Co to act on our behalf in the sale of our two large dental practices. They came up with an excellent and, as it turned out, extremely effective marketing strategy on our behalf. During the sale process itself, once a preferred buyer had been found, Joel was a highly effective negotiator, liaising with ourselves, the buyer, and our lawyers. We are absolutely delighted with the outcome of the sale process and are so pleased we chose Christie & Co to act as our broker as they secured us an excellent deal on terms that suited us.”

Speaking on behalf of Scottish Dental Care, Managing Director, Christopher Friel, comments, “Acquiring these practices represents a continuation of our growth plans, with the extension of our Advanced Dentistry brand into Edinburgh. We are proud to take forward the legacy developed by Dr Mathewson over the years, and we look forward to working with the fantastic practice teams as we progress on that journey.”

Joel Mannix, Associate Director – Dental at Christie & Co, who handled the sale, comments, “It was a pleasure to sell this practice for Hew and his family who have worked so hard to create the outstanding business we know today. A completely confidential, targeted sales approach led to several high-quality offers which were all in excess of the asking price. All parties were incredibly organised which really helped create a smooth deal and led us to present Hew and his team with a list of pre-approved prospective buyers to choose from. Following the closing date, they chose Scottish Dental Care to carry on the practice’s legacy which has allowed the group to fill the missing link in its geography of practices.

“This was a landmark deal for the Scottish market. It represents the huge demand we’re seeing for well-established practices in Scotland, and highlights that competition is key to achieving extremely good post-sale conditions.”              

Mathewson Dental Practice Ltd was sold for an undisclosed price.

For further information on this press release, contact:
Phoebe Burrows, Corporate Communications Manager
P: 07540 063 598 or E: phoebe.burrows@christie.com

Contact the agent:
Joel Mannix, Associate Director – Dental
P: 07764 241 691 or E: joel.mannix@christie.com

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