Healthscope CEO Cooke welcomes comparisons to Ramsay Health Care

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“I just think it demonstrates we can do something similar, albeit a little bit different. Both companies have got a great record and will continue to have a great record, we just want to be greater.”Healthscope CEO Robert Cooke said he has “a lot of respect” for both Ramsay and pathology and medical centre operator Sonic Healthcare.

“I just think it demonstrates we can do something similar, albeit a little bit different. Both companies have got a great record and will continue to have a great record, we just want to be greater.”Healthscope CEO Robert Cooke said he has “a lot of respect” for both Ramsay and pathology and medical centre operator Sonic Healthcare. Photo: Nic Walker

Healthscope will list on the sharemarket at a 9 per cent discount to Ramsay Health Care on a price-to-earnings multiple basis, but chief executive Robert Cooke says he welcomes comparisons to the market leader because it illustrates the company’s growth potential.

Following a bookbuild with institutional investors that finished at midday on Thursday, Healthscope’s private equity vendors TPG and The Carlyle Group settled on a listing price of $2.10, sources said.

At that price, Healthscope will begin trading on a multiple of 21.9 times forecast net profit for the 2015 financial year. This compares with Ramsay, which trades on a multiple of about 24-times.

The Healthscope float will be the biggest since the 2010 privatisation of QR National, now known as Aurizon. The Melbourne-based company runs 44 private hospitals, as well as medical centres and pathology operations.