Beacon sale to net O’Brien €100m

BUSINESSMAN Denis O’Brien is expected to net a cool €100million profit from the sale of the Beacon Hospital in a deal that values the medical facility at between €400 and €500million.

The hospital, which treats more than 200,000 private patients a year, is being sold to an Australian company, it was announced yesterday.

Macquarie is understood to have launched a bid to take over the hospital, based in Sandyford in south Dublin, The Currency reported.

If the deal goes through, it is the latest asset being off-loaded by Denis O’Brien, who is believed to be worth €2.5billion. In recent years he has sold high-profile assets such as Newstalk Radio and Today

FM to Bauer Media Group, and the Irish Independent group to Mediahuis.

He also off-loaded the Pacific arm of his communications company Digicel – which once owned Digicel in Ireland before it was taken over by O2.

His primary business interests are now European golf, leisure, hotel and property development assets.

Mr O’Brien has been the majority shareholder in the Beacon since 2014 but neither Macquarie Asset Management, the Beacon or Mr O’Brien have commented on the sale.

Shareholders in the private hospital, which is 80% owned by the billionaire, entered into an agreement to sell to the asset manager through its Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7.

It is understood Mr O’Brien, 65, received an ‘unsolicited bid’ to buy the business last year. It is believed he was in the process of raising debt finance to build a new €75million 70-bed wing to the hospital.

Mr O’Brien acquired control of the hospital, one of the most modern in Europe, in 2014 after buying €105.4million of loans tied to the business that were owed to Ulster Bank, and units of the hospital’s then-majority owner, US-based healthcare group UPMC. The value of the sale was not disclosed.