AUSTRALIA’S second largest private hospital operator has added more than $100 million to its value after returning to the share market in the biggest listing since 2010.
HEALTHSCOPE raised $2.25 billion ahead of Monday’s listing, making it the largest entry to the local market since the privatisation of rail company QR National, now known as Aurizon.
Shares in Healthscope, the operator of 44 private hospitals, began trading at 1200 AEST. Despite a flat day on the market, it had added four cents, or 1.9 per cent, to $2.14 by 1440 AEST. That takes its market value to $3.71 billion, up from $3.6 billion before trading began. Healthscope was removed from the market in 2010 after a takeover by private equity firms TPG and The Carlyle Group. The firms remain major shareholders, along with many new institutional investors who took up shares in the public offer. Healthscope also has a pathology business and operates 57 medical centres.