Australia’s Cochlear wants to buy govt hearing service, raises profit outlook on soaring Chinese sales

(Reuters) – The Australian government said it is weighing a proposal from a consortium including hearing implant maker Cochlear Ltd. (ASX:COH) to buy a state-owned hearing service, a move likely to create headwinds from an electorate sensitive to privatised health. In a statement on Friday, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the government was approached by a group which also includes the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children and Sydney-based Macquarie University. “The government will formally examine the proposal put forward by the consortium,” the statement said, without giving a dollar value of the service. Australian Hearing’s latest annual report says it grew pre-tax earnings by 77% to A$33.2 million in fiscal 2014/15. A sale would be a tough sell for a conservative government already under pressure to prove it will leave Australia’s subsidised public health system intact while it looks for ways to cut spending. The government last year completed a scoping study into the possible sale of the hearing service, Australian Hearing, but postponed making a decision on whether to proceed, under pressure from opposition politicians and the health sector. Federal and state governments are feverishly selling assets to cut debt and fund capital works amid a massive decline in tax receipts from the mining sector due to the commodities downturn. The federal government in 2014 sold state-owned health insurer Medibank Private Ltd in a sharemarket lis...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Tags: Business/Financial News Otolaryngology Ear, Nose & Throat Cochlear Ltd. Source Type: news