Spire Healthcare Board Backs £1bn Buyout Proposal From Toscafund

The board of Britain’s largest private hospital operator has backed a buyout proposal worth £1bn from its second-biggest shareholder, a hedge fund manager. Spire Healthcare said it had received a non-binding proposal worth 250p a share from funds advised by the activist investor Toscafund Asset Management.

The company stated that the possible cash offer is at a value that the board would be minded to recommend unanimously to Spire Healthcare shareholders if a firm offer was tabled. Its share price, which had hit a five-year low of 142p in March, jumped by 47p to 221p, giving the company a market capitalisation of £892m.

The Toscafund approach came after talks between Spire Healthcare and the private equity companies Bridgepoint and Triton fell through when Triton pulled out in March. The hospital group announced a strategic review last September and said then it was in discussions with several parties to explore a potential sale of the business.

Healthcare operates 38 private hospitals and more than 60 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland that delivered care to 1.36 million patients in 2025. It was founded in 2007 through the acquisition and rebranding of 25 Bupa hospitals, and floated on the stock market in 2014.

The company acquired a string of other sites and also built two new hospitals, in Manchester and Nottingham. Just under a third of Spire Healthcare’s revenues is derived from work it carries out on behalf of the NHS, such as hip and knee operations.

The company said that more than 85% of NHS commissioning had been agreed for the health service’s new financial year, indicating strong growth for the first quarter.

The company stuck to its full-year outlook, saying revenues from private patients had continued to grow strongly, particularly from people who paid for treatment out of their own pockets. Spire Healthcare said it had made significant progress in strengthening care quality, diversifying revenue streams and driving efficiencies in recent years.

Toscafund, which took the telecoms company TalkTalk private in a £1.1bn deal in 2021, has to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Spire Healthcare by 11 June or walk away under UK takeover rules. In 2021, a £1bn takeover offer from Australia’s Ramsay Healthcare, also pegged at 250p a share, was accepted by the Spire Healthcare board but rejected by shareholders.

Spire Healthcare’s largest shareholder is Mediclinic, a global private healthcare group, which holds just under 30% of the company.