False Creek private surgery clinic sold to Toronto equity company
A Toronto private equity company has bought False Creek Healthcare Centre in Vancouver, one of B.C.’s first private surgery and diagnostic facilities.
In a memo to employees obtained by Postmedia, Centric Health, the owner of the facility and four others in Canada, says the deal is expected to close at the end of September.
The buyer is Kensington Capital Advisers. Doctors and patients can expect a “business as usual” transition followed by an improvement in facilities and quality of care, according to Kirk Hamilton, vice-president of Kensington.
The company, which describes itself as an investor in “alternative assets” bought the clinics in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Mississauga for $35 million. The clinics will be owned by the Kensington Private Equity Fund.
The surgical clinics have apparently been a drag on Centric’s financial bottom line. In the memo to employees, David Murphy, Centric CEO, said the “bittersweet” transaction is the culmination of a year-long review to improve the company’s financial health.
Murphy nevertheless said the growth potential for the private surgery business is “immense,” and that Kensington is “the right owner for this business” as it is committed to increasing investment in each of the surgical sites.
In British Columbia, changing government policies initiated by the NDP have been destabilizing the private surgery business.
There is an uncertain outcome of the continuing B.C. trial into the constitutionality of paying privately for expedited surgery in such clinics.
Closing arguments in the three-year-long trial will not be made before the fall, and a judge’s decision is not expected until sometime in 2020.
Asked about the wisdom of buying a private surgery centre in British Columbia, Hamilton said in an email: “The acquisition includes multiple facilities across Canada and isn’t limited to False Creek. Currently, the False Creek facility does not provide any services to the B.C. government. However, we would be open to providing similar patient services to the B.C. government in the future.”