Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America is one of three potential buyers of Healthscope, Australia's second-largest private hospital operator with 33 hospitals, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Private equity firms TPG and Carlyle Group own Healthscope and have set the price at around $5 billion, according to the report. They bought the company in 2010 for $1.7 billion, edging out Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (a major owner of HCA) and Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp.
HCA will reportedly bid on Healthscope against Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, based in China, and IHH Healthcare, based in Malaysia. According to a report from The Australian, HCA has hired Deutsche Bank as its financial adviser.
TPG and Carlyle have reportedly considered various avenues for a deal, including a full sale of Healthscope, selling off individual company hospitals or changing course entirely by taking the company public. Bids are expected to be made in the first week of May.
HCA has one international division, which owns and operates six hospitals in London.
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