This is to notify you that as of Tuesday 4 August, Healthscope has entered into a binding agreement to sell its New Zealand pathology business, Asia Pacific Healthcare Group (APHG), to the NZ Super Fund and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers’) who will each take a 50 percent stake. While the sale contract has been inked this this week, completion will occur in 3-4 months’ time. The current management team will stay in place under new ownership.
APHG is New Zealand’s largest human and veterinary pathology network operating as Labtests Auckland, Northland Pathology, Taranaki Pathology Services, Southern Community Laboratories, Wellington SCL, Canterbury SCL, Medlab South, Gribbles Veterinary and Gribbles Labnet. With 25 laboratories, over 2,000 staff and 150 collection centres throughout NZ, APHG performed over 6.7 million pathology patient episodes across New Zealand in 2019.
As a significant Gribbles Labnet customer you are receiving this update at the same time as we are notifying our own staff. I want to assure you that you can expect our business to continue as usual. We have been through a similar transition previously and are well equipped to ensure this process is smooth for our staff and our valued customers.
We view the change in ownership as a positive development for our business. There will be no change to staff or management as a result of the ownership change and we will continue to provide high quality services to our customers across New Zealand. Importantly, we will have our own identity as a standalone organisation which is not a subsidiary of a larger company.
Please feel free to ask any questions you or your wider team have, we are happy to answer those as they arise, my contact details are below if required.
James Richardson
General Manager
james.richardson@gribbles.co.nz