UBM Medica and Roularta have merged their respective Belgian professional medical print businesses into ActuaMedica, a 50:50 joint venture company. The staff and assets relating to UBM Medica’s print and digital titles (Journal du Medecin / Arksenkrant, Belgium Oncology News and Le Magazine du Pharmacien / Apothekers magazine) and Roularta’s print and digital titles (De Huisarts / Le Generaliste, De Specialisten / Les Specialistes, De Apotheker / Le Pharmacien and De Tandards / Le Denttiste) will be combined. The Prescription pads business of both companies will also be combined and the joint venture company will retain the rights to publish the Medex directory under licence. It will be headquartered in Roularta’s offices in Brussels.
ActuaMedica will be the market-leading provider of media-based marketing services for Belgian healthcare professionals. UBM remains committed to the Belgium medical market through its continued 100% ownership of its digital data businesses in Belgium (Medibridge and drug information systems), as well as its 50% equity interest in ActuaMedica.
Henry Elkington, CEO of UBM Medica said: “By merging our Belgian media assets with Roularta we are creating the leading marketing services player in the local market and will be able to offer our clients unparalleled access and reach to healthcare professionals. ActuaMedica is well placed to prosper in both print and digital as the media market evolves. In parallel we will continue to build our wholly-owned Belgian data business as part of our UBM Medica EMEA operations.”
