Qld richlister Cathie Reid facing court showdown as $2.5bn deal sours

One of Queensland’s richest and most successful business women is being sued for $13m after the $2.5bn sale of her cancer clinic empire hit a hurdle.

Queensland richlisters Cathie Reid and husband Stuart Giles.

One of Queensland’s richest women is being sued for $13m by the new owners of the multi-billion dollar cancer clinic empire she and her husband built from scratch more than 30 years ago.

The Icon Group, which was taken over by Swedish private equity group EQT in a $2.5bn deal last year, has filed a claim in the Melbourne Supreme Court against richlister Cathie Reid over alleged delays in payments for medicines to eight hospital pharmacies still operated by Ms Reid and her husband Stuart Giles.

In a statement on her website titled ‘When Your Exit Doesn’t Go to Plan’, Ms Reid said she was disappointed with the legal action and “we now prepare to face off in court against people who were not only colleagues but previously viewed as trusted friends.”

“One of the great lessons that working in healthcare and cancer care in particular provides is the importance of living in the moment and making the most of the good times, because you truly never know what is around the corner,” she said on her website.

The claim, lodged by Icon subsidiary Slade Health, alleges the breach of payment terms for the supply of the pharmaceuticals to the pharmacies that the couple had originally planned to sell to pharmacist and former business partner David Slade as part of the Icon deal.

Slade Health is a chemotherapy compounding business that is a fully owned subsidiary of Icon Group and founded by pharmacist David Slade, the proposed purchaser of the pharmacies.

Ms Reid and Ms Giles walked away with a $125m payday after majority owners QIC and Goldman Sachs sold the remaining stake in Icon Group to EQT. Ms Reid said she believed the legal action was a direct consequence of the failed negotiations to complete the sale of the remaining pharmacies in a series of transactions that were intended to complete before Icon Group, which provided the management services to the pharmacies, underwent its next ownership transition.

“For a variety of reasons not all of the pharmacy transactions had completed by the time Icon was acquired by EQT in March last year.

“At that time we still had strong hope that the pharmacy transactions would complete as originally planned, allowing us to continue with our plans for life after nearly three decades,” Ms Reid said.

“Unfortunately it became clear that there was no interest in any of the resolutions we were proposing. Long term relationships quickly shifted from collaborative conversations to a bombardment of legal letters, while we continued to propose and work through possible resolutions.” The couple said they were incredibly proud of the legacy and “impact we’ve created at Icon and the last thing we wanted was to see that damaged or destroyed, or even worse create any kind of negative impact for patients or the wonderful teams of people who provide their care.”