Cinven plumps for public listing of Spire to help exit investment

SPIRE Healthcare, the 38-hospital private healthcare business, is set to list on the London stock market after ditching plans for a trade sale of the business.

The company is owned by private equity giant Cinven and has been working with advisers Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to plot a sale of group.

Spire was put up for sale with a price tag of up £1.7bn earlier this year, but the owners Cinven have now decided to follow the stampede to London’s stock market and list the company.

The float, first reported by Sky News, is set to be unveiled next week and will give the company a market cap of £1.5bn if it successfully sells shares to new investors. Spire was originally part of Bupa.