News: HLS UPDATE 1-Australia's Healius rejects $1.2 bln bid from China's Jangho Group, page-3

And the arrogance; check these quotes from the AFR this evening re Board behavior:


By Carrie LaFrenz
11 Jan 2019 — 11:00 PM
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Jangho Group's local managing director Meng We received a missed call from takeover target Healius' head of investor relations on the morning of January 7. Without knowing what the call was about he continued with his other phone conversation.

Five minutes later, a rejection of the Chinese group's $2 billion tilt for the healthcare giant was revealed in a statement to the ASX. There was no communication between the parties, leaving Jangho chairman Liu Zaiwang – the biggest shareholder in Healius at 15.9 per cent – feeling shunned and disappointed.

...Those close to Liu say he is feeling "pretty miffed" about the lack of engagement, given Healius came to him with a week's notice, asking Jangho to cornerstone last year's $250 million capital raising. Healius requested a full letter of support at the time last August, which Liu complied with.

[...However...!:]

AFR Weekend can reveal that Macquarie-advised Jangho will bring in a strategic equity partner in the next few weeks to bolster its Healius bid.

One healthcare industry executive speculated that Jangho will ultimately be successful.

"I do think Liu will be successful," he says. "This is a good strategic move as Liu would merge the Vision Eye business with Primary. He could sweat these assets big time. With Primary getting into day surgery, they would rip out millions of costs. It's a good move, just a matter of getting this off the ground."

...
Thiedeman has been CEO (Vision Eye) for a little over a year. He says Jangho has been a supportive owner, and not involved in day-to-day decision making or influencing clinical behaviour.

"The focus of Vision has moved to not just about ophthalmology, but a range of specialist services in day surgeries," adds Thiedeman, who is the former CEO of fertility specialist Monash IVF, in which Jangho last year bought a stake.

With Healius recently acquiring Montserrat Day Surgery – if the two companies were to merge – it would create one of the nation's largest day surgery operators.

If Jangho were to buy Healius, Thiedeman says the group could extend Healius' industry know how to China where there is a massive middle-class yearning for high-quality healthcare.

He says the self-made Liu came from an impoverished background and is a driven man. Liu comes to Australia every few months to check in on his investments.

"My experience with Mr Liu is he is down to earth and has an appreciation that healthcare is quite a different industry to building," Thiedeman says. "He knows what he wants, and he understands that diversification of Jangho is crucial to its future for another 20 years."