A consortium led by private equity firm KKR has pulled out of a A$20bn (£11.7bn) bid to buy Ramsay Health Care.
The Australian healthcare provider confirmed it had been told by the consortium that it will no longer seek due diligence on Ramsay Santé, Ramsay’s European division, and has advised the board of Ramsay Santé accordingly.
Ramsay Santé due diligence was required for the sale to proceed and the consortium has now informed hospital group that it has withdrawn its proposal.
However, the consortium has also indicated that it remains committed to an alternative proposal disclosed in an announcement from Ramsay yesterday which is not dependent on receiving access to non-public information on Ramsay Santé.
Under this proposal, Ramsay shareholders would be able to elect to receive 100% cash consideration of $88.00 cash per share, less dividends declared or paid after 31 January 2022, for their first 5,000 Ramsay shares.
The Ramsay board stated yesterday that it had considered the alternative proposal and is unanimously of the view that it is meaningfully inferior to the consortium’s indicative proposal of $88.00 cash per share, less dividends declared or paid by Ramsay after 31 January 2022.
The board said it will not engage further with the consortium in relation to the alternative proposal on these terms but had been continuing to actively engage with the consortium in relation to the indicative proposal until it was withdrawn today.
Ramsay added it was prepared to engage with the consortium to determine whether it can put forward an improved binding proposal that is capable of recommendation by the board.
