The largest provider of private healthcare in the UK could be getting even bigger. Bosses at General Healthcare Group (GHG) are looking this week at the possibility of acquiring Covenant Healthcare which was put on the market in March 2008 after suffering big losses of over £130 million. Talks are still in the early stages but if it goes ahead, GHG will expand it’s leading position in the private healthcare sector even further. Just some of the assets it will take over are the cosmetic surgery arm of the company, Transform, as well as five private hospitals. If the purchase goes through, it could be good news for private medical insurance policy holders who are some of the most frequent patients in private hospitals. The facilities owned by cash strapped Covenant will almost certainly benefit from some investment from the highly successful GHG.


GHG already owns 60 private healthcare centres in the UK through its two main operating arms – BMI which owns the majority of it’s private hospitals and has recently bought some Nuffield centres, and Netcare UK which is in control of major Independent Treatment Centre contracts with the NHS. The potential purchase of the struggling Covenant Healthcare will also be a relief on banks and could help the economy generally as Lloyds has been looking after the company’s debts after it took over HBOS last year. A GHG spokesman told Health Insurance and Protection Magazine, "We continually monitor and assess all opportunities in our marketplace. As opportunities arise, and Covenant is formally on the market, we evaluate that opportunity and the fit and value of it to our business. We will only enter into a transaction if it creates value for our stakeholders."