The listed Melbourne-based mutual fund has paid $285 million for Australia’s largest private home care business myHomecare Group, which has about 20,000 home care and CHSP customers.
The sale from Quadrant Private Equity’s multidisciplinary community care provider Enrich Health –which is subject to clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) –will see Australian Unity’s Home Health business expand to more than 50,000 customers, employ over 6,000 people and provide full continuum of care services – from personal support through to high acuity clinical and hospital-in-the-home services, on a range of fully-managed or self-managed bases.
According to KPMG’s 2023 Aged Care Market Analysis, MyHomeCare took home $316.8 million in FY22 with Australian Unity in second position earning $210.1 million for a combined $526 million – or around 6.5% of the total Australian Government home care funding pool.
Adding ‘intelligent scale’
Group Executive – Home Health, Prue Bowden, said that the acquisition offers the ability to add ‘intelligent scale’ to Australian Unity’s existing home care services.
“Importantly, the acquisition also delivers a step change in workforce capacity – adding more than 1,000 healthcare workers – enabling Australian Unity to advance into new regions, particularly southeast Queensland, and add to our presence in some existing service geographies,” she said.
Australian Unity’s Group Managing Director, Rohan Mead, said the purchase of myHomecare is an important step in realising the Group’s strategies, which is developing operations that can help address the burgeoning community needs arising from demographic change.
“This is a significant opportunity for Australian Unity and underlines the company portfolio’s capacity to generate diversified revenues; leverage substantial ongoing investments in technology, logistics, and clinical systems; while at the same time materially increasing the Community and Social Value delivered by the group,” he said.
The deal is only for the Australian homecare business, with Sydney-based Enrich Health retaining the New Zealand arm.
Australian Unity will pay an initial sum of $215 million – funded through its existing bank facilities and existing funds – on completion of the deal, with the remaining balance to be paid progressively over an 18-month period following completion.
