News: RHC UPDATE 1-KKR-led group calls off $14.5 bln offer for Australia's Ramsay - AFR

(Adds deal background, AFR report details)

Sept 13 (Reuters) - A group led by private equity firm KKR & Co Inc KKR.N has called off its cash-and-stock deal that values Australian hospital operator Ramsay Health Care (RHC) at around $14.5 billion, the Australian Financial Review reported, citing sources. (https://bit.ly/3eJ6Eee)

Late in August, KKR withdrew its nearly $15 billion all-cash deal for Ramsay, but continued to offer a cash-and-stock bid that implied a "meaningfully inferior" value for the hospital operator.

The alternate offer made on Aug. 25 implied a value of A$84.93 per share, significantly lower than the all-cash offer of A$88 apiece.

The AFR report said the price of the cash-and-stock deal was the dealbreaker.

KKR and co-investors thought the business had materially deteriorated over the past six months, and would not budge in reverting back to the original offer, the report said.

Neither KKR nor Ramsay immediately responded to Reuters' requests for comment.

Trading in shares of Ramsay has been temporarily paused, the Australian Stock Exchange said. (https://bit.ly/3DkQou3)

($1 = 1.4514 Australian dollars) (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))