In a confidential sale process dubbed Project Shiraz, the...

In a confidential sale process dubbed Project Shiraz, the independent boutique advisory firm is understood to be drumming up interest in an Auckland-based radiology group.
According to a sale flyer in front of interested parties, the business comprises a clutch of assets and has a number of owners including doctors. The flyer says it's a major player in the New Zealand market, which is still highly fragmented despite a more diversified funding model than in Australia.
Medical imaging businesses have been a happy hunting ground for private equity across the Tasman Sea following a string of deals.
The biggest of those was I-MED's $1.26 billion sale to European buy-out firm Permira in January this year. Queensland's Exact Radiology has also retained  KPMG to reveiw strategic options.


The doctors involved in the Auckland-based outfit are reluctant to talk, but sources suggested the business on the block may be Specialist Radiology and MRI Limited (SRG), an IANZ accredited radiologist-owned practice. It has a broad team of radiologists, MRI technicians, radiographers, and sonographers working away.
Trade buyers are also in the mix, but private equity may have an advantage given the asset class's ability to saddle up such companies with gearing levels that are looking more like those prior to the GFC in 2008.
Quadrant-backed Qscan, which acquired Canberra's UMI radiology business and makes about $40 million in normalised EBITDA, shapes as the bidder to beat. However, it's believed at least half a dozen buy-out firms are preparing an indicative bid ahead of next week's deadline.

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Champee