Another health insurance fund considers float option
The Medical Benefits Fund – which trades as MBF – and is Australia’s second largest health insurance fund after Medibank Private, is considering a sharemarket float. This follows the deferral of the Federal Government’s plan to privatise Medibank Private.
MBF’s managing director, Eric Dodd, said his fund was reconsidering further growth options which had been put aside while they had tried to buy Medibank Private.
It has already diversified into financial planning and funds management with its Clearview retirement solutions unit now managing $1.8 billion worth of funds. This has helped to return a record total annual profit of $181 million.
If MBF was to float before Medibank Private and continued to outperform the health fund industry on most financial measures, it may have a negative impact on the price of Medibank Private.
