Healthscope Takeover Approved

Hospital operator, Healthscope (ASX:HSP) has had their takeover bid by private equity firms The Carlyle Group and TPG Capital approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). The takeover is valued at $2.7 billion, with 100 percent acquisition including Healthscope's private hospitals and pathology operators. The private equity firms looking at taking over Healthscope operate under the Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG) brand.

The company's shareholders are unanimously recommended by the Healthscope directors to vote in favour of the proposed deal in the absence of a superior proposal. The joint private equity consortium says it intends to keep all Healthscope staff, including its senior management team. There will be a shareholder meeting to vote for the takeover on September 22 with the takeover deal valuing the company at $6.26 per share.

The is the second takeover in Australia’s medical industry in recent times. Last month, Sigma Pharmaceuticals' drug division was acquired by South Africa's largest drug company, Aspen Pharmacare for $900 million.