The EU Commission is banning EU member state governments from purchasing medical devices from Chinese companies. The ban applies to all public procurement contracts worth more than €5 million, but does not apply to private hospitals.
Listed UK healthcare REIT Assura has made a decision between the two parties vying to acquire it: the REIT’s board has agreed to a ‘best and final’ increased cash offer from US PE firms KKR and Stonepeak, which it says it intends to unanimously recommend to shareholders. Primary Healthcare Properties (PHP), Assura's main competitor as the only other UK REIT with a significant primary care portfolio, has responded by sweetening its offer and urging the board to reconsider.
The Hong Kong division of multinational private health insurer and provider Bupa is expanding its direct settlement scheme into mainland China by partnering with four Chinese private hospital groups that operate in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area. The move comes after Bupa Group withdrew from the country in 2023, and after the Chinese government decided to open up certain regions to foreign healthcare investment in 2024.
Alberto de Rosa, President and founder of Ribera Salud, one of Spain’s largest private hospital groups, has been given the sack by the company’s majority shareholder, French hospital group Vivalto Santé, because of disagreements over strategy. Elisa Tarazona, CEO, has also been booted out.
Spire, the UK’s largest for-profit hospital group, plans to hand out redundancy packages to about 400 of its ~14,000 employees (~2.5%) as part of an initiative to create operational efficiencies and have a higher proportion of bank (i.e. part-time) workers. The jobs being cut include clinical as well as admin staff, but the group says there will be no reduction in patient-facing clinical hours.
Healthscope, Australia’s second largest private hospital group, has received 10 non-binding indicative takeover offers, according to its CEO. This comes after the group’s US private equity owner Brookfield handed over control of the business to creditors after failing to resolve its financial issues.
Primary Healthcare Properties (PHP), a listed UK REIT focused on the primary care sector, has upped its bid for Assura, its main competitor as the only other REIT with a significant portfolio of UK GP practices. US PE firms KKR and Stonepeak have meanwhile reiterated their joint offer for Assura, saying PHP’s would be more risky. Assura has delayed its planned shareholder vote on the KKR/Stonepeak offer to properly consider the new PHP offer.
Earlier this month reports showed Colombia’s already-struggling health system seeing units in hospitals in capital Bogotá being forced to close down to be able to continue other types of care services. In recent months patients have also been denied access to medications and health services, with the financial crisis facing the healthcare sector in the country still unfolding.
Global health insurer Bupa aims to build a network of 130 medical centres over the next three years in Australia, with plans to invest in GP clinics and partner with hospitals to provide services.
Private equity firm Brookfield Business Partners is handing control of its financially troubled Australian hospital asset Healthscope to creditors, in a move not far off a (de facto) bankruptcy process. Meanwhile Healthscope’s main competitor in the Aussie hospital market, Ramsay Health Care, has hinted it might be interested in acquiring the group.
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