PRY, with a market cap of $2.6 billion, may welcome the opportunity of having scrip in a substantially bigger company than VEI which has a MC of only $145 million. If PRY aspire to owning hospitals as well as ophthalmology clinics, and why wouldn't they, then the PHG bid may be attractive.
Don't forget that Archer Capital-owned Healthe Care recently appointed advisers on the possible sale of their $1 billion hospital group....
There is much in play in the sector at the moment and getting bigger or getting out seems to be the way of the future.
The VEI response to the PHG is very misleading. It ignores the effect of the May 2015 acquisition of The Hills Clinic. As announced to the ASX "Based on 1H15 Pulse Health results, the transaction increases consolidated assets by 42%, increases revenue by 20% and increases profit before tax and extraordinary items by 44%". So previous earnings guidance, such as that cited by VEI, are outdated and PRY will see through that tactic pretty quickly.