Private equity firm Cinven bought Bupa’s 25 hospitals for £1.44bn, renaming the business Spire Healthcare.
Spire has now become the UK’s second largest private healthcare firm behind BMI Healthcare after snapping up Classic Hospitals.
Classic Hospitals has sites around the country at Farnham in Surrey, Reading, Halifax, Blackpool, Hull, Liverpool, Wakefield, Macclesfield, Hythe, and Wrexham.
The firm is the sixth largest private healthcare firm in the UK, with about 270 beds and more than 2,000 staff.
Cinven partner Simon Rowlands said: “Classic Hospitals is a very high quality business with excellent facilities that complement Spire’s existing units.”
In the UK, Cinven also owns Partnerships in Care, which provides mental healthcare services, as well as private hospital groups in France and Spain.
Reading-based Classic Hospitals was formed in 2005 after it bought nine hospitals from Bupa for £85m.
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