Jardine Matheson agrees to buy I-MED Radiology for $2.4 billion

Capital is moving into medical imaging because it combines defensive demand with the kind of scale investors prize: recurring procedures, broad clinic networks and exposure to aging populations and chronic disease. Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited said it agreed to buy I-MED Radiology Network for a total enterprise value of A$3.4 billion, or about US$2.4 billion, in a deal that expands the Hong Kong-based conglomerate further into healthcare diagnostics and gives it control of one of the region’s largest imaging platforms.

Jardine said it is acquiring a 100% interest in I-MED from funds advised by Permira and other existing shareholders. The company said the purchase will be funded through cash reserves and debt, though it did not disclose the exact split. Jardine valued the business at about 11.5 times forecast adjusted EBITDA for the year ending June 2026, excluding I-MED’s stake in Harrison.ai, and said the deal should be neutral to earnings per share in the first full year after closing before becoming accretive later.

The attraction is not just financial engineering. Jardine said I-MED delivered compound annual growth in revenue of 11% and adjusted earnings growth of 12% over the five years to June 2025. I-MED’s scale is substantial, with operations spanning Australia and New Zealand and more than 7 million procedures a year. Public descriptions vary, with one company page saying it operates 200 clinics and another saying the network has over 230 clinics, underscoring the size of the platform Jardine is buying. I-MED also offers teleradiology services in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The transaction also carries a technology element. It includes I-MED’s minority interest in Harrison.ai, the radiology AI developer with which I-MED formed Annalise.ai in December 2019. I-MED said in 2020 that it began a project with Annalise.ai aimed at improving patient health outcomes and diagnostic accuracy, while Harrison.ai said in February 2025 that it had raised US$112 million in Series C funding and was expanding into the United States. That connection gives Jardine exposure not only to imaging volume but also to workflow software and AI-assisted diagnostics.

For Permira, the sale marks a full exit after roughly eight years, following its January 2018 announcement that a company backed by its funds would acquire I-MED from EQT Mid Markets funds and other shareholders. I-MED has also been reshaping itself: it acquired teleradiology provider StatRad and entered the US market on 2 July 2024, divested its Jones Radiology shareholding on 15 August 2025 and acquired Radiology Group on 20 February 2026. The deal still needs regulatory approvals, including likely review by Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC, and is expected to close later in 2026. As consolidation accelerates in healthcare, the key question is whether bigger radiology networks will broaden access and lower friction, or give operators more pricing power in a market where diagnostic demand keeps rising.