PEP to buy Australia's Healthia for $168m

The private equity firm will purchase all outstanding shares for AUD 1.80 apiece through a scheme of arrangement, according to a filing. The price represents an 84.6% premium to the August 30 close. Existing shareholders can choose to roll over all or part of their equity into the acquisition vehicle.

Healthia’s stock jumped 72% in response to the announcement, closing at AUD 1.74 on August 31. The company’s market capitalisation was approximately AUD 242m.

Healthia’s origins can be traced to Allsports Physiotherapy Group, which was founded by Tony Ganter and Lisa Roach in Brisbane in 1992. Growth came with the addition of Balance Podiatry, Extend Rehab, MyFoodDr, iOrthotics, and DBS Medical. When the company listed in 2018, it had 72 podiatry clinics, 23 physiotherapy clinics, seven hand therapy clinics, and an allied health business.

Today, Healthia has more than 300 clinics across Australia and New Zealand. Physiotherapy, hand therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy account for about half the business, with one-third coming from podiatry – or feet and ankles – and 17% from optometry and audiology.

M&A-driven expansion remains a key theme, with the likes of Kosmac & Clemens, Melbourne Hand Rehab, Vision Eye Health, Watsonia Physiotherapy, and Corio Bay Health Group acquired in the past 12 months.

Revenue reached AUD 200.3m for the 12 months ended June 2022, up from AUD 136.9m a year earlier. Over the same period, underlying EBITDA rose from AUD 21.5m to AUD 24.5m, while the company swung from a net profit of AUD 5.2m to a net loss of AUD 3.3m.

PEP is currently deploying its sixth private equity fund, which closed on AUD 2.5bn in 2020. Recent activity includes the launch of a AUD 400m continuation fund for Up Education, a vocational education business.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Healthcare
• Buyouts
• Australia
• Pacific Equity Partners