British private equity fund Permira has emerged as a potential suitor for the Healius medical centres, up for sale through investment banks Morgan Stanley and UBS.
Permira would join Australian-based private equity fund BGH Capital — believed to be advised by Macquarie Capital — as being in the mix to buy the division. A Canadian group has also been identified as a possible buyer.
Healius is pressing ahead with the sale of its medical centres, despite adverse trading conditions linked to COVID-19 disruptions that have meant buyers will need to pay more for debt and cannot conduct physical due diligence on assets if they are offshore.
Still, the healthcare provider maintains that strong interest exists for the medical centres and is confident it will achieve an outcome.
London-based Permira appears to be showing a greater interest in the Australian market. It invests in consumer, financial services, healthcare and industrial and technology companies. As of last year, it had raised €33bn since 1985 and was investing €7.5bn ($12.2bn) in committed capital.
Permira recently cast its eye over the educational supplies business Modern Star, which had been up for sale through Navis Capital before the coronavirus pandemic struck. It bought Australian radiology provider I-Med in 2018 for $1.3bn, and many believe it also makes sense for it to make a play for the smaller listed rival, Integral Diagnostics.
Earlier expectations had been that the Healius medical centres would sell for more than $500m.
Healius is selling the centres after it this year rejected a $2.1bn takeover bid by Partners Group.
Partners had planned to buy a 15.9 per cent stake in Healius from China’s Jangho group.
Healius has about 96 medical centres and day hospitals, with a total of 2541 sites, including those that also offer pathology and diagnostic imaging services.
Its sale plans come at a time when some have questioned whether Healius would raise equity due to earnings suffering from the suspension of elective surgeries to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
The market value of Healius is currently about $1.5bn.
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