Private equity groups Carlyle Group and TPG Capital have won the bidding war for Healthscope Ltd, Australia's second largest private hospital operator, The Australian reports. The newspaper said it understood the final offer price was $6.26 a share, above early indicative offers of $5.80 per share.

Buying Healthscope grants the bidder winners access to the expanding Australian market for private health care. Healthscope, whose profit growth has averaged 36 percent in the past nine years, is spending more than A$240 million adding 583 hospital beds and 24 operating theaters in the country.

The company, Australia’s second-biggest hospital owner, last month gave bidders access to its accounts after receiving competing proposals.

Source: Bloomberg, The Australian