Mediclinic CEO says not actively considering bid for Spire; bid speculation intensifies - report
27 MAY 2018
Mediclinic Corporation Ltd’s [LON:MDC] Chief Executive Danie Meintjes has said the FTSE-100 private hospital operator is not actively thinking about tabling a bid for UK-based rival Spire Healthcare Group [LON:SPI], The Mail on Sunday reported. The newspaper did not specify when Meintjes was speaking.
City sources cited by the newspaper said Spire and the group’s advisers were aware of growing bid speculation in the past few days.
Mediclinic initially offered GBP 2.986 per share for Spire in October before increasing its bid to GBP 3.155 weeks later. The bid valued Spire at GBP 1.2bn (EUR 1.37bn), the report said.
The six month prohibition on Mediclinic making a further offer has expired, leaving the South Africa-based group free to make a renewed offer for Spire, the report continued.
The report went on to cite a source who said a renewed bid was only a matter of time. Although Mediclinic’s last bid was only slightly short of what Spire’s board wanted, the source added.
Terms of Mediclinic’s offer for Spire last year, if applied to a fresh bid, would value Spire at GBP 1.3bn due to the rise in the South Africa-based company’s share price, the item noted.
Mediclinic booked a GBP 109m write-down on its shareholding in Spire, the article said, noting that Spire’s share price id down by 25% over the past year.
Spire refused to comment, the report said.
Spire Healthcare's share price closed 6.6p up at 250.0p in London on Friday, 25 May, giving the company a market capitalisation of GBP 1.00bn.
Background:
A Financial Times report on 22 February said Spire’s share price gained 5.84% the previous day on rumours that Mediclinic could sell its stake in Spire to a rival such as Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare [NYSE:HCA]. The newspaper’s market report section did not cite a source for the speculation.
However, a dealReporter article on 23 February cited a source familiar with, a source briefed on, and a person familiar with the matter who all downplayed talk that Mediclinic could offload its stake in Spire. DealReporter is published by Acuris, owner of this news service.
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