PE targets Australian healthcare

AT A TIME WHEN PROFITABLE EXITS in Australia are difficult to achieve due to the lingering effects of the global financial crisis, private equity firms continue to rely on healthcare for returns. This strategy received a ringing endorsement last week as CHAMP Ventures, the growth capital arm of CHAMP Group, sold Healthe Care, the country’s third-largest hospital group, for 13x EBITDA. Archer Capital paid A$240 million ($255 million) for the company in a secondary transaction. It is the most notable private equity healthcare deal since TPG Capital and Carlyle Group acquired Australia’s number-two hospital manager Healthscope last September for $2.36 billion.