Hedge fund proposes £1bn buyout of UK’s biggest private hospital operator

Spire, which operates 38 private hospitals and more than 60 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland, said it had received a non-binding proposal worth 250p a share. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

The board of Britain’s largest private hospital operator has backed a buyout proposal worth £1bn from its second biggest shareholder, a hedge fund manager known as “the Rottweiler”, sending its shares soaring by nearly 50%.

Spire Healthcare, which owns the Claremont hospital in Sheffield and St Anthony’s hospital in south London, said it had received a non-binding proposal worth 250p a share from funds advised by the activist investor Toscafund Asset Management.