TPG-backed Pathology Asia invests Australia's Safe Work

It follows the acquisition in July last year of a portfolio of 39 pathology laboratories across Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam from Australian hospital operator Healthscope for A$279 million ($200 million).

“Our primary ambition is to scale and grow the platform across Asia, as we are doing with a number of our other portfolio investments,” Joel Thickins, TPG’s head of Australia and New Zealand, said at the time.

Founded in 2012, Safe Work offers a range of workplace-related health services with a focus on pre-employment drug and alcohol testing. This includes hair sample testing, which is considered a more reliable indicator than saliva or urine tests.

Other services include laboratory results analysis, policy development, educational workshops, and on-site as well as in-house screening. Operations span locations in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, and Port Hedland, a major mining industry port.

Safe Work is expected to benefit from synergies with the former Healthscope assets, which operate under the brands Gribbles Pathology and Quest Laboratories. Malaysia-based Gribbles claims to be the largest diagnostic laboratory services provider in Southeast Asia, while Quest positions itself as a leading laboratory services provider in Singapore.

Other TPG investments in Asia healthcare include India’s Sai Life Sciences and Manipal Hospital Enterprises, and Australian medical researcher Novotech. TPG Growth, the firm’s middle market division, also operates Asia Healthcare Holdings, a platform that received a $50 million investment from Temasek Holdings last year.

TPG has been present in Asia since 1994 and is currently investing its seventh Asia-focused fund, which closed earlier this month at $4.6 billion. The vehicle is already about 40% committed across at least 12 companies.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• Australia
• TPG Capital