Latest news with #Brookfield
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
India's Schloss, Aegis Vopak IPOs fully sold on final day, retail demand subdued
May 28 (Reuters) - Indian initial public offerings of Leela hotels-owner Schloss Bangalore and Aegis Vopak Terminals were oversubscribed on Wednesday, hauled across the line by institutional buyers as retail demand floundered. India's IPO market is still finding its legs after a slow start to the year, following blockbuster listings from companies such as Swiggy ( opens new tab and NTPC Green ( opens new tab in 2024. India's blue-chip Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab index is up nearly 5% this year but is still more than 5% below record-high levels logged in September 2024, amid uncertainties around global tariffs and worries about their impact to trade. Proceeds from IPOs are down 29% on-year so far this year, while number of issues have dropped 38%, data from LSEG showed. IPO hopefuls, such as LG Electronics India, have either delayed plans or downsized their issue sizes. Schloss issued fresh shares and existing investor Brookfield sold some of its stake in the $409 million IPO. Aegis, a JV of Dutch tank storage group Vopak ( opens new tab, only issued new shares in its $328 million offering. Retail investors, who typically look to pocket listing gains, bid for just 83% of their reserved portion in Schloss' books, while Aegis drew just 77%. Institutional buyers, including foreign investors and banks, bid for over seven times the shares allotted for them in Schloss, and over three times their portion in Aegis. "Retail investors and high-net worth individuals recorded lacklustre enthusiasm as they found valuations to be too demanding, especially when markets have still not completely settled and global uncertainty fears loom," said Astha Jain, a research analyst with Hem Securities. Schloss is targeting a valuation of about $1.7 billion, while Aegis Vopak is aiming one at $3.05 billion. Both the firms are slated to start trading on Indian stock exchanges on June 2.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Australians remain deeply sceptical about the value of private healthcare – it's time for radical reform
The viability of private healthcare in Australia has been thrown into doubt after Brookfield's decision to place Healthscope, the operator of 37 private hospitals, into receivership. After months of acrimonious negotiations with private health insurers and a failed search for buyers, the global investment firm has walked away. This is a 'canary in the coalmine' moment for the private hospital sector. Brookfield's exit suggests that private hospitals, at least in the near term, are no longer a safe bet for private equity investors. The reasons are complex but not new. The sector has been under pressure since 2016, when shares in Healthscope and Ramsay Health Care tumbled amid falling demand for private health insurance – a trend not seen since the early days of Medicare. Australians were questioning the value of private cover as premiums soared, out-of-pocket costs ballooned, and insurers quietly trimmed the list of services they would fund. Complaints surged. Confidence eroded. This was bad news for private hospitals. Healthscope was de-listed from the stock exchange and bought by Brookfield. In response, the federal government introduced reforms: capping premium increases, introducing tiered gold, silver and bronze policies, and trying to make specialist fees more transparent. But these measures have largely failed to restore trust or affordability, as witnessed by the events of the last few days. The pandemic has only deepened the cracks. Elective surgeries were cancelled, demand for private care dipped and, when it returned, it did so in a landscape reshaped by inflation and workforce shortages. By late 2022 inflation had peaked at 7.8%, squeezing household budgets and prompting many to delay or forgo care – especially in the more expensive private system. At the same time, hospitals faced rising costs for supplies and consumables, while medical fees continued to climb. Nursing shortages, exacerbated by burnout and shifting work-life expectations, made it harder to maintain services. Though inflation has since eased, many of these pressures remain. Health workforce retention is still a major concern. Medical out-of-pocket costs continue to rise. And the public remains sceptical about the value of private healthcare. What happens next for Healthscope depends on who takes over. Any new owner is likely to cut costs, potentially closing smaller, less profitable hospitals. Patients will need to go elsewhere. Public hospitals are facing growing demand from an ageing population, with a renegotiation of the national health reform agreement, the key funding deal between the commonwealth and the states. In Victoria the state government has injected $9.3bn into public hospitals, a sign of the growing strain across the board. The reasons why Healthscope is in trouble give us some clues about what we might do to ensure sustainability of the sector. There will always be fights about funding, whether it is private health insurers and private hospitals, or governments and public hospitals. Brookfield's decision raises urgent questions about how we fund and regulate private healthcare in Australia. The opaque and often adversarial contracts between private insurers and hospitals need greater oversight. Financial risk must be more evenly shared. And we need smarter, more localised workforce planning to address chronic shortages. Ultimately, the private system must reckon with its value proposition. While it may offer shorter wait times, care from senior specialists and private rooms, these benefits are increasingly offset by unpredictable and rising out-of-pocket costs. And when hospitals are owned by private equity firms, as in the case of Healthscope, there's growing concern, backed by international evidence, that quality of care will take a back seat to profit. The question now is whether we treat Healthscope's collapse as an isolated failure – or as a catalyst for deeper reform. Anthony Scott is a professor at the centre for health economics at Monash University
The Age
2 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Healthscope owners contributed to its corporate heart attack
To say the collapse of private hospital giant Healthscope was an accident waiting to happen feels like a statement of the bleeding obvious. For Canadian private equity player Brookfield, which paid $4.4 billion for the company in 2019, it was an embarrassing and costly commercial misjudgment. With Healthscope placed in administration this week, the process of selling individual hospitals or groups of them has begun. Up to 10 buyers, including Macquarie Group, St Vincent's and Calvary and a slew of non-profit operators, are reportedly looking to cherry-pick from the portfolio of 37 hospitals and treatment centres. Bank funding has been put in place to keep the hospitals open for a period. But the long-term survival of all of them is not assured. To be sure, there was an element of bad luck for Brookfield with the black swan event of COVID, which delivered a major commercial disruption to all in the private hospital sector. But for private equity firms, whose strategy largely hinges on buying sick companies, applying their own brand of cost-cutting treatments, amputating their untreatable parts and streamlining their operations, the choice of Healthscope as an acquisition was a head-scratcher. There was no simple quick fix and a dearth of profit or revenue levers to push. Brookfield appears to have underestimated the structural challenges facing the industry. To begin with, there are well-documented and long-running commercial tensions between private hospital operators and the private health insurers that pay their bills. Private hospitals are very costly to run, and with a range of expenses such as staff, rents and equipment, which have been further rising in the post-COVID era of high inflation, they are in a constant battle to extract more from the health insurance giants.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
'No amount of money' could have saved Healthscope during 2024 private health insurance attack, Rachel David declares
There was 'no amount of money' that could have saved Healthscope as it was waging war against private health insurers in 2024, a leader in the medical industry has declared. Healthscope was forced into receivership on Monday after the debt-laden hospital operator was handed from its Canadian owners Brookfield to its lenders earlier this month. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has issued the company a $100m lifeline to ensure all of Healthscope's hospitals will remain open and operate as usual. The collapse follows Healthscope launching an aggressive advertising campaign in 2024 to allege private health insurers were not paying their fair share to fund private hospitals. Private Healthcare Australia's CEO Rachel David on Tuesday hit back at Healthscope when questioned about the operator's campaign on Sky News' Business Now. 'There is no amount of money that health funds or the government could have thrown at Healthscope at that point which would have made up for the terrible business decisions made by Brookfield,' Ms David said on Tuesday. She singled out Healthscope's $5.7b sale, which was regarded as overvalued, in 2019 to Brookfield and the decision to sell 22 hospitals for $2.5b to foreign investors before leasing them back to the operator for high rents. 'In a situation like that, there is no amount of money that health funds could have put their hands on that would have resulted in a different outcome,' Ms David said. 'We have to be mindful that … consumers have got to be able to afford their premiums. 'The advertising campaign was a misstep, but now that we're in a situation where new owners can take over ... myself and the private health insurance industry is incredibly optimistic that the private hospital sector will come through this and be able to deliver much more modern and attractive models of care for our patients.' Healthscope faced troubles during the pandemic when patients halted their elective surgeries, leading to major downturns for private hospitals. The uptick in at-home treatment, which was bolstered by private health insurers, also came as a sting to Healthscope as lengthy hospital visits became less necessary. The company has also been marred with controversies, including the death of a two-year-old boy last September, a cancer patient having the wrong side of his colon removed in 2019 and the death of a 17-year-old boy suffering from anaphylaxis in 2021. Healthscope's CEO Tino La Spina told reporters on Monday he is confident there will be a buyer to take over the business. 'I think we're confident that there is interest in taking the Healthscope business as a whole. We have 10 non-binding indicative offers,' Mr La Spina said. 'Some are for the whole (business) and others potentially could include the whole (business) under certain circumstances. That is the focus.' Health Minister Mark Butler said Labor will not bail out the embattled healthcare company amid its financial troubles. 'We remain steadfast in our view that an orderly sales process that maintains the integrity of the entire hospital group will provide the best outcome for patients, staff, landlords and lenders,' Mr Butler said. However, he did stress the hospitals operated by Healthscope 'remain a critical part of our healthcare system'. 'The government does not want any of these important assets to be put in jeopardy to satisfy international investors,' Mr Butler said.
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Travel + Leisure
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Travel + Leisure
This Waterfront Hotel in North Carolina's Outer Banks Just Reopened—With Access to Private Beaches and a Celebrity Chef Restaurant
The Sanderling Resort in Duck, North Carolina, has unveiled new features and a redesigned look in time for its 40th anniversary. The waterfront hotel has updated all of its 123 guest rooms with layered textures, beachy hues, and natural wood furnishings. Theodosia, the hotel's new restaurant, is helmed by James Beard award-winning chef Vivian Howard and serves refined Southern coastal cuisine. Summer guests can enjoy a variety of experiences, including floral arranging workshops, mixology classes, stargazing sessions, and evening ghost crab hunts. Since 1985, The Sanderling Resort in Duck, North Carolina, has been offering its guests prime waterfront views, private beaches, and a casually elegant coastal vibe. Now, just in time for its 40th anniversary, the only full-service luxury resort in the Outer Banks has unveiled a new look. Located between the Atlantic Ocean and Currituck Sound, the hotel spans 12 acres and features newly designed interiors, a restaurant by lauded chef Vivian Howard, an 8,500-square-foot waterfront event venue, and a slate of immersive guest experiences. The Sanderling Resort 'captures the spirit of the quintessential American beach vacation—an inspiring blend of barefoot luxury, culinary excellence, and the natural beauty that makes the Outer Banks a truly one-of-a-kind destination,' Shai Zelering, managing partner and head of hospitality at Brookfield's Real Estate Group, the resort's owner, told Travel + Leisure . 'It's a place designed for active escapes, meaningful moments, and timeless memories.' The hotel's new look comes courtesy of New York City-based interior design firm Ward + Gray, which channeled the welcoming spirit of a chic friend's beach house with layered textures, beachy hues of beiges, soft blues, and sea glass greens, along with natural wood furnishings. In some of the 123 guest rooms, bespoke artwork depicts native birds and local flora in celebration of the region's rich biodiversity, and mirrors are hand-painted with floral designs. North Carolina native and James Beard award-winning chef Vivian Howard is behind The Sanderling's signature restaurant, named Theodosia after the daughter of founding father Aaron Burr. (Theodosia is the central figure of one of the Outer Banks' most enduring maritime legends.) The restaurant serves refined Southern coastal cuisine, featuring dishes such as slow-baked grouper in Frogmore broth, blueberry barbecue duck, and lemon pie with a Ritz cracker crust, enjoyed against the backdrop of the surrounding beaches. Theodosia is open to guests and locals, and joins the resort's other dining outposts: the all-day Lifesaving Station, housed in a restored 19th-century Coast Guard station, and the seasonally open Sandbar and Beach House Bar, both offering casual bites and drinks. The new Sunset Ballroom event venue, which replaces an underutilized indoor pool, features vaulted ceilings, a new outdoor deck, and a wall of windows that frame the Currituck Sound and show off the destination's spectacular sunsets. Lounge chairs lay around the outdoor pool. Conor Doherty/The Sanderling Resort Summer visitors can immerse themselves in classic beach activities like kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and lounging by the resort's two swimming pools, including a zero-entry family pool and the adults-only Tranquility Pool. New seasonal programming includes hands-on floral arranging workshops, mixology classes highlighting regional spirits, book clubs, stargazing sessions, gourmet beach picnics, and family-friendly evening ghost crab hunts along the shoreline. The Sanderling also offers plenty of self-guided ways to spend time, from bird watching—the resort is near the 60-acre Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary—to scavenger hunts and exploring coastal trails. Nightly rates at The Sanderling Resort start from $475, and you can book your stay at
