Bupa has announced plans to acquire a major Australian and New Zealand dentistry group.
The group, Dental Corporation, comprises 190 clinics and 560 dentists. Bupa will acquire 100% of the shares on completion and has said the aim is to strengthen and diversify its offering in those regions.
The transaction will be funded through a payment equal to 84.4% of the company's value, totalling £244m. The remaining 15.6% will be payable to the dentists and the management team over a three year period.
The deal is subject to Dental Corporation shareholders' agreement, regulatory and other approvals, and completion is expected by the end of March 2013.
Dean Holden, managing director of Bupa Australia and New Zealand, said: "We're really excited by this acquisition and look forward to working with Dental Corporation's management team and its dentists.
"We see this acquisition as being core to our future ambition, and to bringing our purpose - longer, healthier, happier lives - to more people."
This latest acquisition follows Bupa's multi-million pound expansion in dentistry in July. Bupa's goal is to be one of the largest private dental chains in the UK by 2015.
In Spain, a £57m investment in Bupa's dental business will take the company's Spanish dental network to 200 dental centres by 2014.
