Healthscope bidders include Tenet Healthcare

Three potential buyers—including Tenet Healthcare Corp.—have initiated competitive bids to snap up Melbourne, Australia-based Healthscope, which owns or manages 48 private hospitals throughout Australia. The company also owns a pathology business with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Healthscope acknowledged in a statement posted to its website that it is now considering two additional purchase offers made after close of trading on May 28. The company had announced on May 14 that it received a purchase offer of $4.61 per share from an unidentified private-equity consortium. On May 24, the consortium increased its offer to $4.82 per share, and Healthscope informed shareholders that it would allow the consortium to conduct due diligence under an agreement of ongoing negotiations.

Late last week two additional nonbinding acquisition offers were made to Healthscope. The company said both proposals offered $4.86 per share. Healthscope’s board of directors has said it also will grant those companies opportunities to conduct due diligence under the same understanding of further negotiations.

Healthscope has not identified the source of the offers, but Dallas-based Tenet today issued a statement confirming it is among the bidders. The Australian, a Sydney newspaper, has reported that the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group and TPG Capital are members of the original consortium offering to purchase Healthscope, while the combined private-equity firms of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and CVC Capital Partners are behind the third offer.