Wakefield on the prowl for acquisitions

By NZPA

Tuesday 2nd July 2002

Listed private health provider Wakefield Hospital is window-shopping for new ventures and is not restricting its search to the Wellington region.

The company's general manager, Richard Barnes, revealed today the Newtown-based hospital was not ruling out more than one purchase and had cast its net outside Wellington.

"We're talking to a number of people in New Zealand and in this (Wellington) area as well . . . there could be (more than one)," he said.

Mr Barnes was not giving details, but said he was hopeful of sealing a deal in six to eight weeks.

That will be good news to investors hoping Wakefield's next move will put a match under its faltering share price.

Its price has more than halved since listing at $2.50 in September last year. Today it was trading 2c down at $1.25, which one broker said was an attractive price.

"You'd think that at these current levels it can't fall much further. Obviously some people will see that as an opportunity -- particularly if the company has expansion plans," the broker said.

The Evening Post said it understood Lower Hutt's Boulcott Hospital was on Wakefield's shopping list. Boulcott would not comment.

While the long-term picture for health providers looks rosy, with demographics showing people are living longer and therefore needing more healthcare, the sector is renowned for being tough to manage because of capital needed to invest in new technology.

Last month Wellington private hospital Home of Compassion announced it would close its doors, citing increasing debt and an oversupply of medical and surgical facilities.

Mr Barnes said Wakefield was "very busy" and had recovered well after the loss of heart surgery referred to it from public hospitals.

Wakefield believes public-funded heart surgery will resume at some stage.

"We firmly believe the case remains the same. The waiting (public) lists have blown out past the six-months maximum for acute patients -- that's not good when you compare it to an average of about two months in Australia," he said.

Last month the hospital reported a 60 percent drop in after-tax profit on the previous corresponding period for the 12 months ending March 31.

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