Larry Goodman continues to tighten his grip on Blackrock Hospital and is moving to buy out the shares of his fellow shareholders.

On Wednesday, competition authorities were notified that Parma Investments, a company controlled by Larry Goodman, has moved to acquire the 13% stake in Blackrock Clinic owned by Dr George Duffy, one of the surgeons who co-founded the Blackrock Clinic in 1986.

Blackrock Clinic is one of the leading private healthcare providers in the country

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This move comes less than a month after competition authorities were informed that Goodman’s Parma Investments had moved to buy out the 28% stake of Dr Joseph Sheehan, another one of the founding members of Blackrock hospital.

If given approval for both acquisitions, Goodman will control almost 80% of the shares in Blackrock Clinic, the south Co Dublin private hospital which made profits of €12.4m in 2018.

Dispute

For the past number of years, the Blackrock Clinic has been at the centre of a long-running legal dispute between Larry Goodman and his joint shareholders.

Following a Supreme Court ruling in January, the way has been cleared for Goodman to take majority control of Blackrock Clinic allowing him to buy out his fellow shareholders.

Larry Goodman has long had a keen interest in healthcare investments and is now one of the largest players in the private healthcare sector in Ireland

Blackrock Clinic is one of the leading private healthcare providers in the country with almost 170 private beds.

The company behind Blackrock Clinic has capital reserves of more than €100m and was ordered by the High Court to pay out €5.4m this year to Larry Goodman's company Breccia Unlimited.

Larry Goodman has long had a keen interest in healthcare investments and is now one of the largest players in the private healthcare sector in Ireland. On top of his investment in Blackrock Clinic, Goodman also holds a 31% stake in the Hermitage Clinic, a private hospital in Lucan, and has recently taken 100% control of the Galway Clinic private.

All three of the private hospitals that Goodman has invested in were recently taken over by the Irish State to add capacity and beds to the health system as it battles to contain the COVID-19 virus.