Private equity firm Stonepeak closing in on $1.9B purchase of radiology network
New York City private equity firm Stonepeak is reportedly in the final stages of acquiring I-MED Radiology Network for $1.9 billion (USD, $3B Australian), according to a report published Sunday.
The company is Australia’s largest imaging provider and just recently entered the U.S. with its purchase of San Diego-based StatRad, America’s second-biggest teleradiology outfit. The Financial Review reported news of the impending sale, claiming Stonepeak is “inches” from buying I-MED from London private equity firm Permira.
“The I-MED deal is straight out of Stonepeak’s playbook of gunning hard at big, up-for-sale assets after a broader auction failed to turn up a binding bid,” the Australian publication first reported on May 4, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the deal.
Permira acquired I-MED for nearly $805 million in 2018. The company now operates over 270 clinics across Australia and New Zealand, performing 6 million procedures annually and employing 350 radiologists. It’s currently on track to make about $862 million in revenue and almost $147 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to the Financial Review.
Jefferies and Morgan Stanley are overseeing the auction on behalf of I-MED. Meanwhile, RBC Capital Markets is advising Stonepeak, which also is the owner of Plantation, Florida-based Akumin. The private equity firm secured control of the U.S. radiology and radiation oncology provider in early 2024 after Akumin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, eventually handing the keys to its largest lender.
In a follow-up report published May 11, the Financial Review said I-MED has received “unsolicited” interest in acquiring its stake in Jones Radiology. The practice has over 60 rads working across 28 clinics in Australia. Reportedly, Stonepeak doesn’t “have much use” for the 49% stake in Jones Radiology and is considering carving the practice out of the deal.
Macquarie Asset Management and Bain Capital also had previously showed interest in buying I-MED, but those talks have now “cooled,” according to the report.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.