The sale of New Zealand’s largest provider of pathology services, Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG), has completed with NZ Super Fund and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) each taking a 50 percent stake.

The purchase from Australian private healthcare provider Healthscope is valued at approximately NZD550 million and was finalised on 30 November 2020 after the Overseas Investment Office consented to the acquisition.

APHG provides pathology services to 13 District Health Boards and has more than 2,000 staff operating across its network of 25 laboratories and 150 collection centres. More recently, the company has been conducting around one-third of all COVID-19 testing in New Zealand, the largest of any single service provider, with further testing capacity to support the country’s testing needs as required. APHG is also a leading provider of veterinary pathology and analytical testing services in New Zealand.

The purchase adds to NZ Super Fund’s NZD7.2 billion portfolio of New Zealand investments and provides further exposure to the local healthcare sector, an industry with favourable long-term growth projections.

NZ Super Fund Chief Investment Officer Stephen Gilmore welcomed the sale’s completion: “We look forward to supporting the APHG management in continuing to deliver high quality essential health services to New Zealanders. As Crown-owned, long-term investors, the Fund, together with Ontario Teachers’, will look to provide the expertise, patient capital and governance needed to drive innovation and add long-term value to the business.”

Ontario Teachers’ investment in APHG is being made through its Private Capital arm, which has significant experience investing in healthcare globally, with investments in the diagnostics, healthcare services, medical devices and biopharma industries. Select current and past investments include Synlab Group, Heartland Dental, PetVet Care Centers, INC Research and Amica Senior Lifestyles.

Ontario Teachers’ Regional Managing Director for Asia Pacific Ben Chan said: “This acquisition deepens our investment relationship with NZ Super and builds on our global track record of investing in leading healthcare businesses. We look forward to bringing our experience to help APHG grow, at the same time as supporting the world-class pathology services it already provides to New Zealanders.”

ENDS

About APHG
APHG is New Zealand’s largest human and veterinary pathology network operating as Labtests Auckland, Northland Pathology, Taranaki Pathology Services, Southern Community Laboratories, Wellington SCL, Canterbury SCL, Medlab South & Gribbles Veterinary Pathology. With 25 laboratories, over 2,000 staff and 150 collection centres throughout NZ, APHG performed over 6.7 million pathology patient episodes across New Zealand in 2019.

About NZ Super Fund
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund invests money on behalf of the New Zealand Government to help pay for the increased cost of universal pension entitlements in the future. By doing this the Fund adds to Crown wealth, improves the ability of future Governments to pay for universal pensions, and ultimately reduces the tax burden on future New Zealanders. A long-term, growth-oriented investor, the Fund has around NZ$50 billion in assets, including more than $7 billion invested in New Zealand. The Fund is managed by a Crown entity, the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation.

About Ontario Teachers’
Ontario Teachers' has over C$204 billion in net assets and exists to invest and administer the pensions of the Canadian province of Ontario's 329,000 active and retired teachers. We have experience investing in New Zealand and an extensive record of investing in leading healthcare businesses including the pathology sector. Ontario Teachers' is headquartered in Toronto, with Asia-Pacific regional offices in Singapore and Hong Kong.. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo.

About Healthscope
Healthscope is Australia’s only national private healthcare provider with 43 private hospitals. Healthscope has a team of 19,000 people and 17,500 Accredited Medical Practitioners, providing care to patients ranging from pathology tests to complex surgery. Healthscope places the highest priority on quality clinical outcomes, transparency of reporting and elevating the overall patient experience. Healthscope was the first private hospital operator in Australia to report performance against quality and clinical outcome metrics publicly, just one part of our program to maintain and continually improve our high standards.