Only several months after Medibank Private Limited (ASX:MPL) and Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG) teamed up to make acquisitions in the healthcare space, it appears they could be doing so on a second occasion. This time, it's the area of primary healthcare where the pair is showing some interest in buying businesses. The understanding is that inquiries are being made to gain more knowledge of the space around the market ahead of a potential move into the sector on behalf of the $10 billion Australian listed private health insurer Medibank with Macquarie in tow.

If they are in the market for an acquisition, the obvious place to look is in the backyard of BGH Capital. The Melbourne-based private equity firm backed by Ben Gray, Simon Harle and Robin Bishop, formerly of TPG Capital and Macquarie Group respectively, owns the former primary healthcare unit of Healius. BGH purchased the business in 2020 for $500 million and has since renamed it ForHealth.

BGH has reportedly been gauging views around the market in recent months to assess whether now would be a good time to place the business up for sale. General practice has been a challenging area in the healthcare industry, with a shortage of doctors prepared to take on bulk billing cases as they are unable to make the numbers stack up. But driving a stronger performance this current financial year has been the work it has carried out for the government by providing Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.

It is expected that BGH would want more than $1 billion for ForHealth, which operates more than 80 large-scale, multidisciplinary medical centres, providing critical primary care services, including GPs, dental, specialist, diagnostic imaging, pathology, allied health and pharmacy services.