Carlyle, TPG pip KKR with $2.3bn Healthscope bid

TPG Capital and The Carlyle Group will de-list Australian hospital chain Healthscope, an asset that had attracted interest from private equity firms including CVC Asia Pacific, The Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

At a value of A$2.7 billion (€1.81 billion; $2.34 billion), the deal would be the largest private equity transaction to take place in Australia in two years. TPG and Carlyle will pay A$6.26 per share, representing a 51 percent premium to the three month volume weighted average price prior to 13 May, the day preceding Healthscope's revelation it had received an indicative proposal.

The consortium, which will pay A$1.99 billion for Healthscope as well as assume A$700 million of debt, beat out a rival bid from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Blackstone had formed part of the TPG-Carlyle syndicate until it withdrew last week from the bidding process for unspecified reasons. KKR, meanwhile, had initially bid for Healthscope in partnership with CVC Asia Pacific, which pulled out of the partnership last month.

The Carlyle-TPG consortium initially submitted an indicative bid of A$5.50 a share before upping its offer to A$5.75 per share in May, while KKR and CVC made an indicative bid of A$5.80 a share, prior to CVC’s pull out.

Healthscope is Australia's second-largest hospital owner with branches spanning the country as well as facilities in New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. The company, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, includes a medical centres division with over 45 clinics and a diagnostic imaging division centred in major hospitals.

Healthscope is being advised by Goldman Sachs, JBWere, Lazard and Minter Ellison.

In March, TPG sold its 23.9 percent stake in Parkway Holdings, a Singapore-listed provider of healthcare services, to Indian healthcare provider Fortis for $685.3 million. Parkway is currently the subject of a takeover battle between Fortis and Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah.