Healthscope Hospitals Sold to Consortium After Financial Collapse

Australia's second-largest private hospital operator, Healthscope, will be broken up and sold to a consortium of healthcare operators following its financial collapse in April 2025. The deal distributes the company's remaining 25 hospitals among several entities to protect the jobs of 14,000 staff and maintain service continuity.

Not-for-profit Catholic organization Calvary Health Care will operate 14 hospitals, including the Newcastle and Hunter Valley private hospitals, and will assume head office operations to manage the transfer. Healthe Care, backed by Pacific Equity Partners, will acquire six hospitals, including Prince of Wales Private Hospital in Sydney and Knox Private Hospital in Melbourne. The remaining hospitals will be taken over by private operators Acurio and KnG.

Lead receiver Keith Crawford stated the agreements provide certainty for patients and employees. The sale follows a failed attempt to convert Healthscope into a non-profit entity, which was blocked by landlords HealthCo and Northwest. The federal government has maintained that the resolution must remain market-based without taxpayer funding.

The transaction, overseen by McGrathNichol, is expected to be completed by November 30, 2026, pending regulatory approvals from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board. The selection of Calvary Health Care has drawn attention due to Catholic ethical standards that prohibit procedures such as abortions and voluntary assisted dying.