The Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) share price has had a fantastic start to the week after announcing yet another takeover approach.
The private hospital operator's shares are up 11% to $2.31 in morning trade.
What happened?
This morning Healthscope announced that it has received a proposal from Brookfield Capital Partners and its affiliates to acquire 100% of Healthscope by way of an off-market takeover offer.
Brookfield Capital Partners has made an offer representing a total value of $2.455 per share, and a simultaneous scheme of arrangement representing total value of $2.585 per share.
Under the scheme of arrangement, shareholders would have the option to receive all cash or to receive some of the consideration as shares in an unlisted company controlled by Brookfield that would own 100% of Healthscope.
This offer compares favourably to the preliminary, non-binding offer of $2.36 cash per share from the BGH – AustralianSuper Consortium.
Incidentally, the Healthscope board has advised that it has decided not to provide the BGH – AustralianSuper Consortium with due diligence access but has granted it to Brookfield Capital Partners.
According to Healthscope chairman, Paula Dwyer, this was done for a number of reasons.
She explained: "We consider the Brookfield Proposal to be attractive for shareholders. It is superior to the BGHAustralianSuper proposal and provides enhanced certainty. It also offers more options for Healthscope shareholders, including an option to retain an equity exposure to an unlisted Healthscope. As such, we will grant Brookfield the opportunity to conduct exclusive due diligence to facilitate a binding offer for Healthscope."
Given its poor performance over the last couple of years and the tough trading conditions it faces currently, I agree with the board that this is an attractive offer for shareholders.
Though it is worth remembering that there is no guarantee that this offer will result in a transaction. As such, management has advised shareholders that they do not need to take any action at this stage.
So, instead of picking up Healthscope shares I would suggest investors consider gaining exposure to the healthcare sector through the likes of CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) and ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD).
