The Zoo scan

The business of general practice, daily

Wednesday 15 July 2026

One item today, and it is a condition clearing rather than a fresh deal. Green Cross Health shareholders approved the NZD 270m sale of The Doctors to Tend Health at the company's annual meeting in Auckland yesterday, Tuesday 14 July. The results notice filed with the NZX records the special resolution as passed, NZ Doctor reported overwhelming support, and completion is now targeted for the end of July. In Australia the register has not moved: no new GP practice acquisition has reached the ACCC register since Partnered Health's 3 July notification, and no determination has been published on that first mandatory-regime matter, its bid for the 11-GP Medicine on Second clinic at Maroochydore (MN-15027), which sits at Phase 1 with submissions now closed and the determination period ending 14 August.

Migrations · deals and corporate activity
Green Cross shareholders approve the sale of The Doctors to Tend; no new Australian GP deal, first mandatory-regime determination still awaited Confirmed

At Green Cross Health's annual shareholders' meeting, held at the Ellerslie Event Centre in Auckland yesterday, Tuesday 14 July, shareholders passed the special resolution approving the sale of all the shares in Green Cross Health Medical Limited, which trades as The Doctors, to Tend Health for NZD 270m. The results notice filed with the NZX records the resolution as passed, on a poll, as NZX listing rules require; NZ Doctor reported that shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour. The Doctors runs 65 clinics with more than 400,000 enrolled patients, New Zealand's largest GP network. Tend is a technology-enabled primary care provider with a nationwide digital platform alongside its clinic network, backed by iwi and local investors, so the network stays under New Zealand ownership.

Shareholder approval was the outstanding condition, and it is now cleared. Completion is targeted for the end of July, after which Green Cross refocuses on its Unichem and Life Pharmacy business. This is a New Zealand transaction, tracked here as an international comparator for the digital-buyer read, not an Australian deal and not an Australian price marker.

Closer to home, no new GP practice acquisition has reached the ACCC register since Partnered Health's 3 July notification. Checked directly on the register today, the first GP practice matter under the mandatory merger regime, Partnered Health's bid for the 11-GP Medicine on Second clinic at Maroochydore (MN-15027), remains at Phase 1 initial assessment, effective notification date 3 July, with no determination published. The register now records the submission period as concluded; submissions closed on Friday 10 July, so a Phase 1 determination in the second half of July remains the working expectation, inside the determination period ending 14 August. This is the first GP practice matter under the regime, so the timetable it sets is the one every corporate and health-insurer bolt-on above the cumulative threshold will follow.

The larger Bupa-Partnered Health parent transaction, reported by AFR Street Talk on 18 June at $450m, has still not appeared on the register. Only the Partnered Health group notification (MN-15027, Ryan Plaza) is listed.

15 July 2026 National / International (New Zealand)
NZX: Green Cross annual shareholders' meeting results NZ Doctor: Green Cross shareholders approve Tend's $270 million offer NZX: Sale of Green Cross Health's Medical Division RNZ: The Doctors to be sold for $270m, remain Kiwi-owned ACCC register: Partnered Health - Ryan Plaza Medical Services ACCC acquisitions register
Fresh tracks · what we're watching
  1. Partnered Health / Ryan Plaza (MN-15027) still awaits its Phase 1 determination. Checked directly on the register today: still at Phase 1 initial assessment, effective 3 July, no determination published, and the register now records the submission period as concluded, submissions having closed on Friday 10 July, with the determination period ending 14 August. On the ACCC's recent Phase 1 timing a determination is likely in the second half of July. The first GP clearance under the mandatory regime sets the template, and the timetable, for every corporate and health-insurer bolt-on that follows.
  2. Whether the Bupa-Partnered Health parent transaction, reported by AFR Street Talk on 18 June at $450m, surfaces on the ACCC public register. Still absent as at 15 July.
  3. Green Cross completion, targeted for the end of July now that shareholder approval is cleared, to be confirmed against the NZX announcements for GXH. Watch also what the board does with the proceeds; the NZX announcements will surface its choice. Green Cross is not a buyer in the Australian market and has given no public indication that it intends to become one.
  4. ATO valuation guidance for the 1 July 2027 CGT cost base reset, still not issued. The apportionment formula is described in the Budget material but the ATO tool and detailed methodology are not out, and it remains the gate on any firm pre-2027 planning for practice owners.
  5. AvidSys-Spectrum (WA): the acquisition of Spectrum Health Group's WA practices was announced in November 2025, before the mandatory notification regime commenced on 1 January 2026. The AvidSys site still describes the deal in forward-tense terms ('will transition', 'to be completed through Avid Health'), Shire of Dandaragan council minutes from 23 April 2026 refer to it as still proposed, and the DXC Medical WA monthly update for July notes no Spectrum Health deal was publicly reported in June. The watch is whether completion has slipped past 1 January 2026: if it has, and the deal clears the thresholds, an ACCC notification may still be required.
  6. Gungahlin's fully bulk-billed clinic (Macquarie General Practice), the third of the Federal Government-funded bulk-billing clinics in the ACT, was due to open during July. No confirmed date yet.
  7. Payday Super commenced on 1 July 2026: employers must now pay the super guarantee at the same time as wages, with contributions reaching the employee's fund within seven business days, replacing quarterly payment. For owner-operated practices this is a working-capital and wage-compliance change rather than a transaction. The watch is the ATO's compliance approach and any transitional relief through the first payday cycles.
  8. National Dental Care: Crescent Capital has appointed Morgan Stanley to sell the network, one of Australia's largest, after more than a decade of ownership (AFR Street Talk, 18 June). Dental, not general practice, so it does not change GP buyer logic. It is worth watching only as a marker of continued private equity appetite in Australian health services, and for any health-services multiple the process discloses.

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