The story
Founded by Ali Parsa and Massoud Fouladi in 2004.1
Circle was founded in 2004 as Centres Of Clinical Excellence Limited, co-founded in 2004 by Babylon Health founder and former investment banker Ali Parsa and consultant ophthalmologist Massoud Fouladi. It said that it wanted to be a model "a little bit like John Lewis" or a law firm, and referred to itself as a "partnership". The flattened organisational structure was said to allow quality and efficiency to remain high, through the creation of "clinical units". In January 2010, Gordon Brown, as Prime Minister, said: "Circle's provision of healthcare from the private sector is crucial to a 21st century health service."
The company's plans were ambitious, involving opening 30 private hospitals, and encompassing the possibility of running 30 NHS trusts in time. In October 2009 it was shortlisted to become the first franchisee of an NHS trust. It raised £200 million from investors and had an initial public offering on AIM, with the shares peaking at £2.
In 2015, Circle entered a £50M deal with Tech Mahindra to improve IT infrastructure and applications.
In October 2015, Circle entered an agreement with Advanced Oncotherapy to open a proton beam therapy cancer centre on Harley Street, London.
In April 2017, work began on a third private hospital, in Birmingham.
As Circle Integrated Care, it has had a prime provider contract to manage musculoskeletal services in Bedfordshire since 2014 and a £74M deal to oversee musculoskeletal services in Greenwich began in April 2017.
The company announced in December 2012, that Ali Parsa had stepped down as chief executive. Steve Melton assumed the position until November 2016. Paolo Pieri, a former finance director of lastminute.com, is now chief executive.
Expansion
In November 2016, Circle announced that it is it to develop hospitals in China in conjunction with Chinese investors. In April 2019, it opened a £23m hospital in Shanghai. The hospital provides access to multi-disciplinary teams including specialists outside China.
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In November 2019, the Financial Times reported that Circle would acquire the holding company of BMI Healthcare, the biggest private hospital provider in the UK with 54 hospitals; the cost of the acquisition was not disclosed. The deal was called in by the Competition and Markets Authority in December 2019, resulting in the enlarged company agreeing in June 2020 to divest Circle's hospital near Bath and the new hospital at Birmingham, which had not at that time been put into operation.
From Wikipedia’s article on Circle Health Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4