Australia's largest home care provider has paid $70 million for the national mobile allied health services provider.
Plena Healthcare is part of Zenitas Healthcare, which is owned by private equity firms Adamantem Capital and LVP Funds (formerly Liverpool Partners), who took the formerly Australian Securities Exchange-listed company private in 2018 with the acquisition.
Adamantem and LVP Funds, which each own half of Zenitas, recruited corporate advisors Record Point last October to find a buyer for Plena Healthcare. Australian Unity is being advised by global investment bank Greenhill & Co, with King & Wood Mallesons legal adviser.
Australian Unity will fund the acquisition with new and current bank debt facilities and existing cash. An initial $25 million will be paid, and $45 million paid on completion.
"Considerably greater scale": Prue Bowden
Plena Healthcare employs more than 800 clinicians, and provides allied health services, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry, speech therapy, and pathology, in residential aged care and in the community. Plena has more than 100,000 customers annually.
Once the acquisition is complete, Australian Unity will have more than 160,000 customers annually, compared with 50,000 in 2023-24. The merged businesses will employ over 6,700 people.
Prue Bowden (pictured above), Group Executive – Home Health, said the proposed acquisition is an important step in moving towards the business’ strategic goal of becoming one of Australia’s leading integrated healthcare companies.
“The proposed acquisition of Plena Healthcare strategically diversifies and enhances our existing Home Health business, by delivering mobile allied health services in an innovative manner that can be further scaled within our existing operations.
"These critical services allow Australian Unity to pursue its broader ambition to enable Australians to live and age well in their preferred setting.
"Importantly the acquisition gives us considerably greater scale to better support the complex needs of our customers and patients."
Home Care sector is facing disruption
Australian Unity’s Group Managing Director, Rohan Mead (pictured left), who retires at the end of the year, said the home care sector is facing disruption.
“Old models of care will be insufficient and less than effective for the demography of the future," he said.
"Mutual companies like Australian Unity are orientated to the consumer, their customer, and can therefore play an important role in seeking valuable innovation on behalf of the community in these areas of vital need."
There are no publicly available financial reports for Plena, but The Australian Financial Review has reported the operation made $10 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) on about $75 million of revenue.
In 1H 2024-25, Australian Unity's March 2024 acquisition of myHomecare Group helped the Home Health division report a 35% increase in revenue of $1.3 billion and 30% increase in EBITDA of $58 million.
Completion of the deal is subject to clearance from the ACCC and other conditions.
