Mediclinic rejects £3.4bn takeover proposal
London-listed private hospitals group Mediclinic has rejected a £3.4bn cash offer from a consortium of its biggest shareholder and a shipping group, saying the proposal undervalued the company.
Remgro, which owns almost 45 per cent of Mediclinic, and Mediterranean Shipping Company, the world’s largest container shipping group, had pitched the offer at 463p a share.
Both Mediclinic and Remgro, the investment vehicle of the billionaire Rupert family, are based in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The wealthy family’s Rembrandt Group, before it split into Remgro and the Swiss-based luxury goods group Richemont, was behind the foundation of Mediclinic 40 years ago. Johann Rupert, the son of founder Anton, chairs Remgro and Richemont.
Mediclinic operates in Switzerland, Namibia and the United Arab Emirates as well as in South Africa. It also owns 29.9 per cent of Spire Healthcare, a UK-based private health group. Remgro, listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange, has invested in consumer products, financial services, infrastructure, industrial and media industries as well as healthcare.
Mediclinic’s shares rose 5 per cent to 445.2p by Thursday lunchtime in London and are up 40 per cent this year. They closed at 373p on May 25, the last business day before the proposal was submitted.
“The board of Mediclinic (excluding the Remgro representative) considered the proposal, together with its advisers, and concluded that it significantly undervalued Mediclinic and its future prospects,” the group said in a statement. The board “unanimously” rejected the proposal on May 31, it added.
The consortium has until July 7 at 5pm to decide whether to make an offer or withdraw any intention to do so.
Mediclinic looks set to build on its profitability this year, buoyed by a “significant” rise in the number of patients and greater demand for services such as elective procedures as Covid-19 recedes.
Mediclinic and Remgro declined to comment. MSC did not respond to requests for comment.
MSC has recently overtaken Maersk to become the biggest container shipping group after buying a number of second-hand ships during the pandemic-induced global supply chain crunch and rise in freight rates.
Soren Toft, who had been considered a leading candidate for the top job at rival Maersk, became the first person outside Italy’s Aponte family to join MSC’s senior leadership when he took over as chief executive of the freight business at the end of 2020. The founder, owner and chair of MSC is 81-year-old Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte.
MSC this year expressed an interest in buying Rome-based ITA Airways, the successor airline to Alitalia, saying that the purchase would bolster its logistics business by building air freight lanes.
Additional reporting from Harry Dempsey