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Mediclinic International Plc has rejected an acquisition bid from a group led by South African billionaire Johann Rupert.
The £3.4-billion ($4.3 billion) offer from Mediclinic International has ignited a struggle for control of South Africa’s largest hospital operator.
Rupert’s investment vehicle Remgro Ltd. and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA offered 463 pence per share to assume full control of the company. The plan was rejected by Mediclinic, and the two parties are now debating their positions, according to Bloomberg.
Remgro predicted that any future offer would be entirely in cash. As of 12:03PM yesterday in London, where Mediclinic’s shares are predominantly traded, its share price was up 4.8 percent to 445 pence.
Meanwhile, Mediclinic stated that the bid “seriously undervalued Mediclinic and its future prospects.”
Its stock has nearly halved in value over the past five years, and the company, like other hospital providers, struggled during the COVID-19 outbreak due to a decline in elective treatments.
After a KKR & Co.-led coalition began circling Ramsay Health Care Ltd., which manages a network of facilities in Australia and Europe, this is at minimum the second proposal for a private hospital operator in recent weeks. In South Africa, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, Mediclinic manages more than 70 private hospitals, as well as mental-health institutions and daycare clinics.
Billionaire’s game
Remgro is a long-term investor and owns a nearly 45-percent share in the company.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Rupert, 72, is South Africa’s wealthiest individual, with a net worth of about $10 billion.
Through a family trust, he owns the Swiss holding Cie Financiere Richemont, the world’s largest luxury watchmaker.
As part of a larger takeover, Remgro decided to sell around a 30-percent stake in Distell Group Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s largest wine and spirits producer, to Heineken NV last year.
Following the Mediclinic news, the company’s share price remained relatively unchanged.
MSC has been on a deal-hunting rampage as of late, having increased in importance following the COVID-19 pandemic, when freight transit soared. The business is vying for Italia Trasporto Aereo, or ITA, the successor to the defunct airline Alitalia, with Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
Bollore SA’s African transport and logistics division was also bought by the container firm for $6.3 billion.
