Macquarie provides €300m unitranche loan to Irish hospital

Macquarie Lending, the investment arm of the Australia's Macquarie Group, has finalised the €300 million unitranche financing of a private hospital based in Ireland, one of the largest single-term transactions completed in Europe.

The Mater Private Hospital located in Dublin secured the loan in order to refinance the firm’s existing debt and a tailored capex facility. Further details of the transaction were not disclosed and a representative from Macquarie was not available to respond to further questions on the deal before press time.

The debt financing follows failed attempts by private equity sponsor CapVest to sell its majority stake in the hospital. Earlier this year, German investment firm Fresenius had come close to signing a €500 million package to acquire the stake, but it was ditched at the last minute by the board. Other bidders were reported by the Irish Times to be interested in acquiring the stake, including AMP Capital and Carlyle Cardinal Ireland, but neither deal went through.

CapVest acquired its 51 percent stake in the hospital, which generates around €200 million in revenues every year, almost a decade ago. The private hospital specialises in cardiology and oncology, providing round-the-clock care to emergency cardiac cases.

Andrew Honan, senior managing director for Macquarie Lending Europe, said: “We structured the transaction to specifically address the requirements of The Mater Private Hospital and the nature of the underlying private healthcare business.”

The €300 million unitranche financing is among the largest loans underwritten in Europe. It follows the €625 million facility provided by GSO, the credit-focused asset manager affiliated to Blackstone, to support the merger of plastics
companies Polynt and Reichhold, a record amount for a debt fund in the European market.