The planned flotation of Circle Holdings has been delayed, just days after a Bureau investigation, published in the Observer, raised financial and contractual questions over the private health provider.
The company, backed by some of the UK’s most powerful hedge funds, had previously been listed to float on the Alternative Investment Market on June 9. But a London Stock Exchange notice today confirmed it has been moved to June 30.
Circle declined to comment on the proposed listing.
Read our investigation into Circle Health here.
Circle Holdings owns a 50.1% share in Circle Health, which is expected to become the first private company to take over the running of an NHS hospital, Hinchingbrooke, in Huntingdon, once negotiations with the Department of Health have completed.
Among Circle’s major backers are powerful hedge funds, Lansdowne UK and Odey Asset Management.
June 7th, 2011 at 7:03 pm (#)
Investigative journalism is alive and well
There must be dozens more stories waiting
out there. The private sector spent
$1,000,000 a day opposing Obama’s healthcare
reforms, we don’t want them over here running
our NHS. More please
June 8th, 2011 at 10:29 am (#)
For profit ‘health’ businesses are totally unreliable and will turn tail, like Circle, if there is a threat to their short term profits.
Ity is cheaper for the NHS to build and run services in-house as everyone knows but the Con-Libs dare not say explicitly.