Private hospital group Spire Healthcare has confirmed it is in discussions with two firms over a possible sale.
Having announced in September it was considering options including a sale, the firm said in December it had commenced discussions with several parties in relation to a range of potential options.
These could include, but were not limited to, a potential sale of the business, value generation from the hospital property estate and increased strategic focus on private payors.
It has now gone further with the board issuing a statement confirming that buyout firms Bridgepoint Advisers Limited and Triton Investment Advisers were among the parties in discussions over a possible deal to acquire the publicly listed private healthcare provider.
Spire said the talks were taking place in the context of the strategic review announced on 18 September, adding these discussions remained at a preliminary stage.
It continued there was no certainty that any offer would be made for the company nor as to the terms of any offer, if made.
Bridgepoint and Triton have until 5pm on 21 February 2026 to announce whether or not they plan to make an offer for Spire, however this deadline can be extended with the consent of the panel on takeovers and mergers.
Spire is one of the UK’s largest private healthcare provider groups, running 38 hospitals and more than 50 clinics, medical centres and consulting rooms across England, Wales and Scotland.
It operates a network of private GPs, works with more than 8,700 consultants and provides occupational health services to more than 800 corporate clients.
Hit by NHS commissioning drop
Also in the December update, Spire said self-pay trends had continued to improve and private medical insurance (PMI) business were broadly unchanged since the first half of the year.
However, it noted this had not been sufficient to offset the slowdown in NHS commissioning activity to the independent hospitals due to Integrated Care Board budgetary restrictions.
As a result it was expecting full year results for 2025 to be around the bottom end of its expectations with a similar outcome expected in 2026.