The Australian private hospital chain Ramsay has increased its offer to buy the UK company Spire Healthcare.
The takeover will mean Ramsay will merge Spire’s 47 hospitals with Ramsay’s 40 UK facilities, and become the UK’s leading private hospital group.
Ramsay joins other private providers who aim to benefit from a surge in their business due to long NHS waiting lists.
If the merger goes ahead Ramsay will overtake the recently merged Circle/BMI group, which had become the UK’s largest.
The new offer of 250p per share values the company at about £1.4 bn; the previous offer in May this year was 240p per share valuing the company at about £1 bn. Spire’s board has recommended that this offer be accepted.
Full story in The Lowdown, 9 July 2021
