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3i's Westminster Healthcare up for grabs

Westminster Healthcare, 3i's UK nursing home operator, is being auctioned for around £450m. The company is expected to attract more than ten bids by today's deadline for first round offers, including a number from private equity firms.

BUPA and Barchester are both understood to be interested in a strategic acquisition, as is Four Seasons, currently owned by Allianz Capital Partners, and Southern Cross, which was acquired by Blackstone for £162m last week.

Private equity buyers to have expressed an interest in tabling an offer include Cinven, which lost out to Blackstone for Southern Cross, BC Partners, which is building a pan-European private hospital group, Doughty Hanson, Charterhouse and CVC Capital, according to the Financial times.

The healthcare services sector has attracted increasing interest from private equity players in recent months. The combination of strong demand for healthcare services as the population ages and the highly fragmented state of the sector is judged to provide strong consolidation opportunities.

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