Circle Health

Circle is a social enterprise which runs six hospitals and is bidding to take over the management of Hinchingbrooke Health Care Trust. Circle’s employee-ownership model is getting a lot of attention from policy makers.

Employee owned?

From 'The Return of the Public' blog, 30 Nov 2010:

A company called Circle has taken over the running of Hinchingbrooke hospital. On November 25th, the mastermind behind the Coalition’s plans for a Big Society, Phillip Blond, tweeted that - 'Circle are an employee owned mutual – great news that they have won the contract to run hinginbrooke – its mutualisation not privatisation'. The Daily Telegraph picked up the theme. On same day it wrote that Circle operates a ‘John Lewis-style partnership model’.

In fact the company is majority owned by private investors, as their website makes clear: 49.9% of Circle is owned by Circle Partnership Ltd, which is owned by everyone who works in clinical services, directly or indirectly and at every level. 50.1% is owned by Circle International plc. This is the investment vehicle that blue chip City institutional investors have subscribed to for shares by providing the capital for Circle. They ensure that any refinancing is achieved without diluting partners’ 49.9% ownership. The investment needed to buy land and build hospitals, clinics and invest in infrastructure is raised by Health Properties Ltd, a separate business.

The Coalition are pursuing privatization by stealth. I hope the John Lewis partnership and the country’s mutuals will make it clear they are not structured like Circle and do not wish to be likened to a company where employees can be outvoted by external shareholders."

In June 2011 The Bureau of Investigation found that Circle was "just one subsidiary in a complex corporate structure that spans the British Virgin Isles and Jersey".

Its backers include Lansdowne Partners, which owns 18.9% of Circle Holdings. The investment company was founded by Tory donor Paul Ruddock. Other shareholders include Odey Asset Management with a 21.4% share; its founder, Crispin Odey, pocketed £28m in 2008 after betting correctly that Bear Stearns would collapse. He also funds the Tories.

People

• Ali Parsadoust, Managing partner, Circle. Parsa ranked 97 in the Health Service Journal's list of top health industry influencers. He has an engineering doctorate and a successful banking career behind him including as a Goldman Sachs president. He spoke alongside health secretary Andrew Lansley at a big society debate in 2010.
• Christina Lineen, head of communications. Lineen is a former aide to health secretary Andrew Lansley. She worked for him for two years, joining Circle in July 2010. She replaced Nick Seddon, who left earlier in the year after about 18 months to join the think tank Reform as deputy director.