Ramsay Health Care Ltd
(ASX:RHC) has acquired a 57% stake in Groupe Proclif SAS, a private hospital operator in France for $142 million.
Managing Director Chris Rex says the company has been evaluating a number of expansion opportunities in Europe over the last two years and says Proclif provides an ideal entry point in to the growing French acute care market.
Ramsay says it expects the transaction to deliver a small accretion to core earnings per share in fiscal 2012.
The company says it will fund the acquisition through its existing Australian senior debt facility.
Ramsay Health Care earned profit of $106.47 million in fiscal 2009.
