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British health fund Bupa is set to buy aged care assets in New Zealand and Australia for about A$1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) from private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, the Australian Financial Review reported yesterday.
Bupa is understood to have beaten Macquarie Bank and AMP Capital Investors to buy New Zealand's Guardian Healthcare and Amity, Australia's largest collection of health care assets, the business daily said in an unsourced report.
A Guardian spokeswoman confirmed due diligence was being done and said a decision was imminent.
CVC acquired Amity and Guardian as part of its purchase of the DCA Group last year. The paper said the final sale price was unknown, although negotiations had been for a price of about A$1.2 billion.
A sale at that level would represent a strong profit for CVC, it said.
Bupa was reported this year to have approached Australia's MBF with takeover offers in a bid to challenge that country's biggest health fund, state-owned Medibank Private.
The Australian Financial Review said that proposal was valued at more than A$1.5 billion.
MBF said it still favoured a demutualisation and share market listing.
MBF is one of several private health insurance companies in Australia considering a listing or other options as they prepare for increased competition after a Government decision to sell Medibank Private.
Bupa last month sold its 25 British hospitals to private equity firm Cinven for US$2.8 billion.
- Reuters
