Major Ramsay Health Care investors are demanding the private hospital giant spin off or sell offshore assets and focus on its struggling local business, with frustrated shareholders lobbying the company’s new chairman, David Thodey, to move faster and with more certainty.

In a push that mirrors that at ASX-listed property giant Lendlease earlier this year, five institutional investors have told The Australian Financial Review that Ramsay should concede defeat on a 15-year push to own and operate hospitals globally, starting with its controlling stake in Ramsay Sante, which has facilities in France and Scandinavia.