In a joint venture with MSC Mediterranean Shipping of Switzerland, South Africa’s Remgro Ltd announced on Thursday that it will purchase hospital chain operator Mediclinic International for $4.49 billion (3.7 billion pounds).
The consortium’s fourth offer, made after the board of Mediclinic rejected the first three, values the company at 6.1 billion pounds ($7.41 billion), according to a joint statement from Remgro and Mediclinic.
Third-largest hospital operator in South Africa is Mediclinic, which billionaire businessman Johann Rupert’s Remgro currently owns up to 45% of.
Investors and shareholders had pushed Remgro, an investment firm with businesses spanning infrastructure, consumer goods, financial services, and healthcare, to unlock value and streamline the group structure.
A component of their initiatives is its plan to acquire Mediclinic.
As the hospital chain was impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and revenue from surgeries and other operations fell, Mediclinic had a negative impact on Remgro’s profits.
However, business is now mostly back to normal, and analysts had predicted that Remgro would be able to increase shareholder value by unlocking the company’s potential.
According to the companies, Mediclinic shareholders will receive 504 pence in cash for each share of Mediclinic, a 23 percent increase from the day before the final offer was made in early June.
In addition to the United Kingdom and South Africa, Mediclinic also conducts business in Switzerland and the Middle East.
The consortium claimed it would delist Mediclinic and hold it as a private company if the bid was accepted by shareholders.
