The BGH-AustralianSuper consortium has revisited its AUD4.1bn (€2.58bn) bid to take control of the private hospital owner and operator Healthscope.

Healthscope said it had received an unsolicited proposal from the consortium led by Australian private equity firm BGH Capital and AustralianSuper to acquire all of its shares by way of a scheme of arrangement.

Healthscope said the proposal was “substantially the same” as the consortium’s bid submitted in April.

“Like the previous proposal, this is stated to be a preliminary, non-binding indication of interest, and specifies an indicative price of $2.36 cash per share,” Healthscope said.

AustralianSuper already holds a 14% stake in the listed Healthscope, which owns 29 of the 45 hospitals that it operates around Australia.

The April bid flushed out two rival proposals – from Brookfield Asset Management and Northwest Healthcare REIT.

Northwest subsequently acquired a 10% stake in Healthscope.

In May, the Healthscope board rejected all three offers so that it could undertake a strategic review of its business and property portfolio.

In August, it announced plans to establish a new unlisted property trust to hold the majority of Healthscope’s freehold property assets and to lease them back to Healthscope.

The BGH–AustralianSuper consortium said its new bid had the backing of a key Healthscope shareholder, Ellerston Capital, which has a 9.3% stake.

The consortium said Ellerston was supportive of the board granting due diligence to the bidder, and that it would also support a scheme of arrangement at the indicative conditional price of AUD2.36 a share in the absence of a superior proposal (and subject to an independent expert’s report).

The BGH-AustralianSuper consortium said exclusivity arrangements among its members had been extended to 31 March 2019. A previous exclusivity arrangement was due to expire in 24 hours.

Healthscope said its board would assess the proposal and keep the market informed of any material developments.

It advised shareholders not to take action at this stage as there was no certainty that the proposal would result in a transaction.

 

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