Reuters reported a month ago:
CIRCLE HOLDINGS PLC (CIRC.LN), a U.K. hospital operator, said it has finalized a contract that will make it the first private company to take over the running of a National Health Service hospital, in a deal that will see Circle manage GBP1 billion in revenue over the contract's 10-year life.The Guardian reported six investors control 95% of Circle Holdings, run by Ali Parsa, a former Goldman Sachs banker. What's interesting is Parsa got the UK's Competition Committee to take up his issue of small private's being shut out.
Circle Health was selected as preferred partner to run Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust in November 2010. The company said it has now signed a definitive contract to deliver a full range of services at the hospital, located near Cambridge, starting in February next year.
Bloomberg reported:
Circle Holdings Ltd., a London- based private-hospital operating partnership, said today that it filed an antitrust complaint in September 2010 regarding ties between private providers and insurers that prompted the OFT’s study.
“Today’s decision will have a profound effect on U.K. health care, unleashing entrepreneurialism and unlocking innovation,” Circle CEO Ali Parsa said in the statement.
Private equity underwriters, like The Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein, salivate over health care. Carlyle closed on PPD, the clinical drug trial company, and is bidding on Rottapharm, an Italian pharmaceutical maker.
PEUs won't decrease the cost of health care, not with added management fees, higher interest expense, dividend bleeds and targeted 30% annual returns on investment. I find it interesting that they're the answer to global healthcare ills. It seems they are at least one form of disease.
