Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Healthscope sale finalised; NZ Super Fund and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan finalise purchase of New Zealand pathology business APHG
The sale of New Zealand’s largest provider of pathology services, Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG), has completed with NZ Super Fund and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) each taking a 50 percent stake.
The purchase from Australian private healthcare provider Healthscope is valued at approximately NZD550 million and was finalised on 30 November 2020 after the Overseas Investment Office consented to the acquisition.
APHG provides pathology services to 13 District Health Boards and has more than 2,000 staff operating across its network of 25 laboratories and 150 collection centres. More recently, the company has been conducting around one-third of all COVID-19 testing in New Zealand, the largest of any single service provider, with further testing capacity to support the country’s testing needs as required. APHG is also a leading provider of veterinary pathology and analytical testing services in New Zealand.
The purchase adds to NZ Super Fund’s NZD7.2 billion portfolio of New Zealand investments and provides further exposure to the local healthcare sector, an industry with favourable long-term growth projections.
NZ Super Fund Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore welcomed the sale’s completion: “We look forward to supporting the APHG management in continuing to deliver high quality essential health services to New Zealanders. As Crown-owned, long-term investors, the Fund, together with Ontario Teachers’, will look to provide the expertise, patient capital and governance needed to drive innovation and add long-term value to the business.”
Ontario Teachers’ investment in APHG is being made through its Private Capital arm, which has significant experience investing in healthcare globally, with investments in the diagnostics, healthcare services, medical devices and biopharma industries. Select current and past investments include Synlab Group, Heartland Dental, PetVet Care Centers, INC Research and Amica Senior Lifestyles.
Ontario Teachers’ Regional Managing Director for Asia Pacific Ben Chan said: “This acquisition deepens our investment relationship with NZ Super and builds on our global track record of investing in leading healthcare businesses. We look forward to bringing our experience to help APHG grow, at the same time as supporting the world-class pathology services it already provides to New Zealanders.”
