Street Talk

The five Healthscope hospitals under the microscope

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 29, 2025 – 2.16pm

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Collapsed private hospital operator Healthscope operates 37 sites across Australia from Perth to Sydney, Darwin and Hobart. But if the group is broken up and sold to a reported group of 10 hungry buyers, which will be the most sought-after?

Interest from ASX-listed Ramsay Health Care, which operates 73 hospitals in Australia, in acquiring the whole group would likely raise the ire of Australia’s competition regulator, which has come after the operator in the past for alleged misuse of market power.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.