Sonic’s proposal to acquire Healthscope Ltd in ACT and Southern Tablelands

Sonic Healthcare Limited proposed to acquire the pathology business of Healthscope Limited in the ACT and Southern Tablelands area.

On 16 May 2012, the ACCC commenced a review of Sonic’s proposed acquisition of the pathology businesses of Healthscope in Queensland, Western Australia and NSW/ACT. On 17 September, Sonic announced that it no longer proposed to acquire Healthscope’s pathology business in NSW/ACT, so the ACCC did not reach a decision on that proposed acquisition.

This review related to a new proposed acquisition, limited to the ACT and Southern Tablelands. In the previous review undertaken, the ACCC considered a number of relevant aspects of the pathology sector, including in the ACT and Southern Tablelands area. The ACCC therefore undertook targeted market inquiries only.

Read the full review here: http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/1099830/fromItemId/751046

Healthscope cuts NSW staff and centres as part of restructure

Healthscope Ltd has admitted that the restructure of its New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory operations has led to the closure of 44 of its pathology collection centres in the past month, according to The Australian Financial Review.

Healthscope chief executive Robert Cooke told the newspaper that the closures had come at the cost of 70 jobs.

“We have restructured our NSW business over the last eight weeks and we have closed collection centres and made a number of staff redundant,” he said.