About Us
Healthcare is growing
Nearly 20% of Limited Partners have a single sector exposure and it is to a handful of sectors, namely energy, technology and healthcare. While there have been private equity funds focused primarily or exclusively on healthcare in the US for many years, until recently that had not been the case in Europe. Now, there is an increasing sector focus and specialisation in order to find that differentiated approach to investing. Ten years ago, only a few private-equity houses had dedicated healthcare teams and today the large funds nearly all do, and increasingly also the mid-cap funds. In fact, there are now a handful of European firms that are dedicated only to the healthcare sector, focusing their expertise and resources into a market that offers healthy returns on the back of changing demographic dynamics, wealth and technology.
Positive Structural Fundamental and Strong Returns
In an article entitled ‘Finding untapped potential in European healthcare service providers’, McKinsey & Company observed that Europe’s predominately public-led healthcare systems suffer from poor access to capital and are increasingly willing to accept private investment in care delivery to improve care efficiency, effectiveness, and access.
What also attracts investors is that healthcare generates good returns, especially in sector-specialist funds. Data from Cambridge Associates show that sector-specialist healthcare funds delivered the highest multiple-on-invested capital (MOIC) and IRR (2.7x and 34.4% respectively) compared to consumer, financials and even technology sectors. In Europe, when PE investors were able to secure meaningful European healthcare deals above €200m their returns on exit averaged more than 30% – in line with, or even above, sectors such as consumer goods.
Our Coverage
We cover investable healthcare from healthcare services where 80% of capital is deployed, through life sciences (including IVD and medtech), pharma (manufacturing and pharma services) and veterinary (including clinics and animal health), but excluding biotech and early stage venture funding. This wide spectrum of healthcare touches on many other sectors such as real estate, tech, software and a broad range of business services.
Our Governance
European Healthcare Investor Association is a not-for-profit organisation answerable to its members in the annual general meeting. Our members are investors, current and former board members and senior managers of portfolio companies and advisors to the healthcare private equity community.
The Council of European Healthcare Investor Association comprises a Chair (from an Investor Member) a Deputy Chair (from a Strategic Partner) and a number of Vice Chairs not exceeding eight initially, and the Council meets at least three times per year virtually and in-person once (Covid permitting)
Our People
Alan MacKay
Alan is an Executive Partner and co-founder of GHO Capital and has been a private equity investor for 30 years in roles including Senior Partner and Global Head of Healthcare at the private equity firm 3i Group plc. He is the Chair of the European Healthcare Investor Association. He was appointed to the board of 3i plc in 1993 and became CEO of 3i Nordic plc, based in Stockholm, upon the acquisition of Sweden’s largest listed private equity company Atle AB in 2001. Alan has served on the boards of a number of healthcare companies, including most recently Phibro Animal Health Corporation which completed a successful initial public offering (IPO) in April 2014. Latterly he has been Managing Partner, CEO, and Chairman of the Investment Committee, of Hermes GPE, an active co-investor in private equity backed healthcare. Alan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law, an MSc in Enterprise and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD. He was Chair of the BVCA for 2016 – 2017 and has chaired its Responsible Investment Advisory Board.
Global Healthcare Opportunities, or GHO Capital, was founded in 2014 as a specialist healthcare investment adviser based in London. The firm was built from a shared experience and long-standing history of creating and backing businesses, accelerating growth, delivering value and championing success in the sector through prior roles with healthcare industry leader Quintiles, 3i Group, J.P. Morgan and TPG.
Henry Elphick
Henry is the founder and Deputy Chair of the European Healthcare Investor Association, the leading organisation representing private capital in the sector. He has worked in healthcare his entire career as a lawyer (Linklaters), investment banker (Rothschild, UBS and Jefferies) and as a strategy consultant where he is now a partner in the Oliver Wyman Healthcare and Life Sciences Private Capital team. He is also Non-Exec Chair of Compass Recruitment Solutions, a private equity backed healthcare and life sciences search and recruitment firm.
Previously, Henry was also a trustee of the charity Turn2Us, an advisor to the International Longevity Centre think tank and the Chair of care home provider Elizabeth Finn Homes. He has an MA in Law from the University of Oxford.
Sarah Ward
Sarah leads the strategic direction and day-to-day operational management of EHIA, working in close collaboration with members and partners to deliver on the organisation’s mission – enhancing networking, advancing digital innovation, and developing new data tools to support private equity investment in healthcare. In recognition of her impact, Sarah was honoured with inclusion on the ‘Women in Trade Associations 2026 Power List’ for a second year. She also oversees the strategic vision of Investors in Healthcare, the official journal of EHIA. Sarah is regularly invited to serve as a judge for the PPA Awards, which celebrate excellence across the independent publishing sector. Previously, Sarah held the role of Commercial Director at LaingBuisson, bringing extensive expertise in business development, marketing strategy, digital platform innovation, data-driven tools, and event leadership.
“As the Executive Director I am focussed on delivering for our members. Key to that is having an ongoing dialogue directly with as many of them as possible and my door is always open. Our strategic partner McKinsey have worked closely with us to develop a strategy for the Association as a convener and an informer of healthcare investors. My remit is to deliver on that strategy by providing valuable benefits for our members. I am excited by the future – our reputation, membership and the quality and quantity of what we are able to deliver are all growing – and I look forward to developing the association further”
Ryan Richards
Ryan supports EHIA through providing strategic insights as well as analysis across the healthcare sector globally. He is an Associate at Knight Frank where his work informs investors, operators, lenders and developers in evaluating market performance, dynamics and opportunities.
Prior to this, Ryan worked within Aegon Asset Management’s Real Assets Equity team, supporting fund performance analysis, reporting, asset management and strategy. Ryan is an MBA candidate at Bayes Business School and holds the IMC, CIMA Cert and AssocRICS designations.
