UK's Spire Healthcare faces investor calls to explore sale, Sky News reports (updated)
17/09/2025 19:14
Adds details throughout Sept 17 (Reuters) - Leading investors of British private hospital group Spire Healthcare SPI.L, including activist investment trust Achilles AIC.L, are urging the company to put itself up for sale, Sky News reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Harwood Capital Management entities, of which Achilles is a part, hold roughly 5% of Spire's shares, and were among the investors who believed the firm was significantly undervalued, the report added. The company, with a market valuation of 837.7 million pounds ($1.14 billion) as per LSEG data, runs 38 hospitals and over 50 clinics, medical centres and consulting rooms across England, Wales and Scotland. Achilles, co-founded by prominent fund manager Christopher Mills, is understood to have urged the company to appoint advisers to run a formal sale process, the report said. Spire reported a nearly 5% increase in half-year revenue during its July interim results and said it expects to save 20 million pounds in costs in the second half of the year. Harwood Capital and Spire did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. ($1 = 0.7319 pounds) (Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore) ((Yamini.Kalia@thomsonreuters.com;))