One of Australia’s largest private hospital operators, Healthscope, is reportedly entering into receivership, leaving the future of its Hunter operations in doubt.
It’s understood to be saddled with a billion-dollar debt, according to the Australian Financial Review.
While Canadian private equity firm Brookfield plans to sell all its 37 facilities, which includes Hunter Valley Private Hospital and Newcastle Private Hospital, the company stated there would be no immediate impact on patients and staff, due to a $100 million lifeline from the Commonwealth Bank.
It comes after lenders voted to end their support for the current owner.
Brookfield purchased Healthscope for a staggering $5.7 billion in 2019.
But, it suffered a major blow to its core business during COVID, which forced the shutdown of elective surgery.
After the pandemic, Healthscope’s revenue was squeezed further by an acceleration of at-home treatment for services that previously required a lengthy hospital admission.
Receivers have been appointed, led by McGrathNicol partner Keith Crawford.
“We want to make it clear that the subsidiaries that own and operate Healthscope’s network of hospitals are not affected by our appointment to the shareholding companies,” he said in a statement.
“Our immediate focus is to engage constructively with all key stakeholders to ensure uninterrupted operation of Healthscope hospitals and continuity of best practice standards of patient care.
“We will also work closely with Healthscope management to support any operational funding requirements via access to $100 million of new funding from Commonwealth Bank while we pursue an orderly transition of ownership of Healthscope’s hospitals.”
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