PEP, QIC run health check at Cura Day Hospitals; indicative bids land

afr.com:

The waiting room at Queensland-headquartered Cura Day Hospitals is thick with dealmakers from buyout firms and their comrades at core-plus infrastructure funds.

Cura Day Hospitals has seen its fair share of ownership changes in its 15-year-long life. 

Street Talk can reveal at least four suitors lobbed non-binding indicative bids to sell-side adviser Citi by last Thursday’s deadline. The business makes $40 million a year at the earnings line and is slated to spell a $500 million-plus payday for owner, Germany’s Fresenius.

Parties that tabled first-round offers include Sydney private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners; QIC’s infrastructure investment arm; London-listed buyout giant Intermediate Capital Group (ICG); and Partners Infrastructure – each with form in the sector.

Pacific Equity Partners is sizing up Cura as a potential bolt-on acquisition or merger partner for its Healthe Care portfolio of hospitals and day surgeries, which it acquired for about$400 million from China’s Luye Medical Group in 2021. Of some note, managing director Shannon Wolfers is running point on the deal and will cut the cheque from PEP’s buyout fund – rather than the Secure Assets Funds.

Looming large among rival bidders is London-listed Intermediate Capital Group, which knows Cura well, having funded a management buyout from its erstwhile owner Archer Capital back in 2014. This time around, ICG has Sydney-based managing director James Giannas leading the charge; it has also tapped Rothschild’s bankers for advice.

The third suitor, Swiss private equity firm Partners Group is understood to have bid for Cura via its infrastructure unit, Partners Infrastructure. The firm has done its homework on the sector, having made an (unsuccessful) tilt