Vital Healthcare Management, a New Zealand-listed company, is buying 12 private hospitals in Australia.
The purchase, which is subject to approval, includes surgical and psychiatric hospitals and medical centres in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
It will be partly funded through $150 million in capital raising.
General manager David Carr says Australia has a strong private healthcare industry, with about 45% of Australians holding insurance policies that cover hospital stays.
He says only about a third of people in New Zealand have hospital cover.
