Brussels, 26/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has the proposed acquisition of joint control of the General Healthcare Group Ltd (“GHG”), an independent healthcare provider in the UK, by Apax Partners Holdings Ltd (“APHL”). This change follows a modification of the voting rights in GHG's holding company. APHL is the parent company of a number of companies which provide investment management and investment advisory services to private equity funds, and controls, amongst others, Mölnlycke Healthcare (“MHC”) which manufactures surgical products, wound care products and bandages for the professional health care sector. Netcare is a South African healthcare company, which solely controls GHG. GHG is a joint venture providing independent health care services throughout the UK via its BMI Healthcare division, which operates several acute care independent hospitals in the UK, and its Amicus Division, which provides outsourced healthcare services to the publicly funded UK National Health Service. The transaction would give Netcare and APHL joint control over GHG and would create no horizontal overlaps, the Commission concluded as the parties would continue to face competition from a number of strong competitors and there would be no real risks of markets being closed off to competitors.