Not-for-profit clears final hurdle for Hobart Private takeover
A major not-for-profit has cleared the final regulatory hurdle to take over Hobart Private Hospital, ending a prolonged sale process triggered by Healthscope’s financial collapse.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this week approved the acquisition to Calvary Health Care.
The 146-bed hospital at the corner of Argyle and Collins streets, next to Royal Hobart Hospital, includes five operating theatres, a 24-hour emergency department and a cardiac catheterisation laboratory.
Calvary will take control from 1 November.
Healthscope exit
Healthscope agreed to sell Hobart Private to Calvary in December, alongside Holmesglen Private Hospital in Melbourne.
The transactions formed part of the receivers’ and administrators’ process following Healthscope’s parent entities entering voluntary administration in May 2025.
The state government owns the freehold.
Healthscope signed a 20-year lease in 2019.
Not-for-profit monopoly
The ACCC said there was no real commercial likelihood of an alternative purchaser acquiring Hobart Private (continues below).
It added the hospital faced a prospect of closing if the acquisition didn’t proceed.
Calvary already operates Lenah Valley Hospital and St John’s Hospital in southern Tasmania.
In Launceston, it holds St Vincent’s and St Luke’s hospitals.
The takeover will make Calvary the only major private overnight hospital operator in Hobart and Launceston.
Services set to end before takeover: ACCC
The ACCC also considered concerns that some services currently available at Hobart Private may not continue under Calvary’s Catholic healthcare model, including certain fertility treatments, surgical terminations, voluntary assisted dying and gender-affirming procedures.
The regulator concluded those services were likely to cease at Hobart Private regardless of whether the acquisition proceeded.
The state government welcomed the approval, a spokesperson saying it would help maintain private healthcare capacity.
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