The Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) share price could be on the move today after it revealed that the Paul Ramsay Foundation is offloading some of its stake in the private hospital operator.
According to the release, the foundation, which was set up by Ramsay Health Care's late founder Paul Ramsay, has entered into a block trade agreement with two financial institutions to sell 22 million ordinary shares. This represents approximately 10.9% of the issued share capital.
After the sale is complete the Paul Ramsay Foundation will hold approximately 21% of the company's issued share capital.
The chairman of the foundation, Mr Gregory Hutchinson, said: "On behalf of the Board, the Paul Ramsay Foundation has no intention to authorise or sell any shares in the Company, directly or indirectly, in addition to the shares sold under the BTA (block trade agreement), in the medium to long term in the absence of extraordinary or unforeseen circumstances, and that PRF does not possess any information that is not generally available and that a reasonable person would expect to have a material effect on the price or value of the Company's shares."
According to the AFR, JP Morgan and UBS have underwritten the deal at $61.80 per share and have been running a bookbuild since the market closed on Monday. This means the shares will be sold at a price no lower than $61.80, which is a discount of 5.2% to the last close price. If the sale proceeds at this price it will generate approximately $1.36 billion for the foundation.
The foundation recently announced plans to dedicate a significant proportion of its annual funding to help strengthen the for-purpose sector and its potential to make a significant systemic contribution to breaking the cycle of disadvantage. These funds look likely to be put to good use here.
