It’s not just lenders, insurers and landlords that Brookfield has been appealing to, in the hope they’ll cut it some slack over its embattled hospital operator Healthscope – the government has been petitioned as well.
It is understood that Healthscope, which is owned by Canadian private equity firm Brookfield, went to the government as part of a plan to pressure health insurers to make higher payouts to compensate the country’s second-largest hospital operator for higher operating costs.
The government regulates health insurance premiums.
Brookfield purchased Healthscope in 2019 for $4.4bn but it is now wrestling with $1.6bn of debt at a time when its earnings remain under pressure as the healthcare industry has struggled to rebound from the global pandemic.
Moelis and FTI Consulting are now working with Healthscope on a restructuring, while the syndicate of lenders, including Australia’s top four banks, has hired Houlihan Lokey and McGrath Nicol. Talks are expected to continue for months.
One of the challenges faced by Healthscope is that its mental health inpatient services are under-utilised, with psychiatrists admitting fewer inpatients as online consultations are considered more viable.
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