‘Business as usual’ for IPN after Sonic takeover

IT will be business as usual for Independent Practitioner Network (IPN) practices and their GPs, following the Federal Court’s approval of the Sonic Healthcare takeover of the corporate medical centre operator.

IPN managing director Dr Malcolm Parmenter said the deal would not affect its 134 clinics, and would not result in practice amalgamations or closures, as has been the case with Symbion after its takeover by Primary Health Care.

“It’s going to be very much business as usual, the way we’ve done it in the last little while – we don’t have any plans to close any practices within IPN’s network,” Dr Parmenter said.

The federal approval of the takeover of IPN follows a near unanimous (98.14%) shareholder vote in favour of the scheme, which will see Sonic take ownership of the remaining 28.5% of the company later this month. Sonic already controls 71.5% of IPN.

The takeover will help ensure a more stable future for IPN, as part of the world’s third largest diagnostics company, Dr Parmenter said. However, IPN would continue to operate as a stand-alone subsidiary of Sonic.

Formal negotiations regarding the position of IPN managing director were yet to begin, however both Dr Parmenter and Sonic were keen to continue with the former GP in the role.