Utilities investor Infratil is planning to buy a 60 percent stake in Australian diagnostic imaging business Qscan Group Holdings for $353 million.
File image. Photo: 123rf.com
A fund run by close associate Morrison & Co has conditionally offered to buy up to 15 percent of Qscan, while existing doctor shareholders would hold 25 percent.
Infratil chief executive Marko Bogoievski said "Qscan provides a high-quality entry point into a sector with structural long-term growth and potential to scale into a leading healthcare infrastructure platform".
The seller is Australian private investment company Quadrant Private Equity.
Bogoievski said the deal was "strategically and financially compelling for Infratil shareholders".
He said Qscan was an essential services industry, which meant it would ride out business cycles, as well as having long term growth opportunities.
Qscan was regarded as a market leader with a secure revenue base from a network of 76 clinics, offering the prospects of building a significant sized healthcare infrastructure asset.
The acquisition would be funded from Infratil's existing financial recourses and not require any further capital raising, but is conditional on Qscan's doctor shareholders taking at least 25 percent.
Infratil's other major assets include telecommunications company Vodafone, data centres, Wellington Airport, and energy generators in Australia and the US.