Australia’s Sigma Pharmaceuticals on Thursday emerged as a potential bidder for the pharmacy services and consumer businesses of domestic rival Symbion Health, potentially creating an obstacle to an agreed A$2.86bn bid for Symbion by Healthscope.

Healthscope and its private equity partners, Ironbridge Capital and Archer Capital have already received board approval for their bid for Symbion in a deal that would create Australia’s largest hospital and diagnostics group. Under that deal Symbion would be split up, leaving Healthscope with the medical centres, and the pathology and diagnostics assets. The private equity firms would then take the pharmacy and consumer businesses.