By Brett Foley
Australia plans to sell shares in Medibank Private Ltd. before the end of the year, adding to the highest level of initial public offerings in the nation since 2005.
An offer prospectus for the country’s largest health insurer will be sent to the Australian Securities and Investments Commissionin October, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said today in e-mailed statement. Pre-registration for the prospectus opens late next month and the company may list on the Australian stock exchange in December.
Australia’s Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, is cutting spending and selling assets as it seeks to rein in a budget deficit estimated to have swollen to A$49.9 billion ($46.7 billion) in the year ended June 30. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s Sydney-based analyst Toby Langley in March valued the insurer at about A$4 billion based on peer-group analysis.
The Medibank IPO will come after share sales by Australian companies this year reached about A$9.7 billion, the highest since 2005, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings this year included hospital operator Healthscope Ltd. and catering and services company Spotless Group Holdings Ltd.
Australia in April hired Macquarie Group Ltd., Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to manage the Medibank IPO. It has appointed other advisers to prepare scoping studies on the sale of other assets including Defence Housing Australia, the Royal Australian Mint and the registry business of corporate regulator ASIC.
Australia provides its citizens with free or subsidized health care at clinics and hospitals through Medicare. It also encourages people through tax benefits to take out private health insurance. About 47 percent of Australians are covered by private insurers for hospital treatment while 55 percent are covered for other services such as dental and optical, according to a statement in June from the government’s Private Health Insurance Administration Council.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Foley in Melbourne atbfoley8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Philip Lagerkranser at lagerkranser@bloomberg.net Edward Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment