01 Tangible Assets
Equipment, fit-out, stock, and any property. These are what a bank traditionally feels most comfortable funding.
Deal Structure
How a practice acquisition is priced.
Most practice valuations divide into three components. The structure of a deal matters because lenders apply different rules to each one.
02 Goodwill
The going concern value above the tangible assets. In established practices, this is often the majority of the purchase price. For a GP clinic with 3,000 active patients and strong billing history, goodwill might represent 60–80% of the agreed sale price.
03 Patient Records & Billing Rights
These travel with the practice and represent future revenue potential.
The Goodwill Problem
The bank will lend less than you need. That's the policy, not the deal.
01 Illustrative Example
A practice priced at $2M with $1.4M in goodwill. A lender who will lend 50% against goodwill contributes $700k from that component — plus whatever it will lend against tangible assets. A lender with an appetite for 70% against goodwill contributes $980k. The same deal, the same practice, a $280k difference in available funding — purely because of the policy.
Major banks typically restrict their exposure to goodwill. The specific limit varies by lender, but the practical effect is the same: if a practice is priced substantially in goodwill, the bank will lend less than you need.
Knowing which lenders will go further — and on what conditions — is the work.
What's Possible
Up to 100% — including fitout.
01 Illustrative Example
An incoming GP purchasing an established practice for $1.8M, plus $200k in fitout for new premises, may be able to finance the full $2M without drawing on personal savings. The structure, serviceability profile, and quality of the practice are what the lender is underwriting.
For qualified practitioners, some lenders on our panel will fund up to 100% of the practice purchase price — and extend that to include fitout costs. This is a significant departure from standard business lending, where a deposit or equity contribution is typically required. It reflects the way specialist healthcare lenders read a medical practice: the recurring revenue, the billing history, and the stability of the patient base represent real security — even when there is no property collateral involved.
Not every deal qualifies for 100% funding. The practice's billing history, transition arrangements, and the borrower's income profile all factor in. But knowing that some lenders will go there — and which ones — changes the conversation about what's possible.
Preparation
What lenders want to see in an acquisition.
A well-prepared file, presented to the right lender, moves faster and gets a better result than a file that finds the wrong lender first.
01
2–3 years of practice financials (P&L, tax returns, BAS)
02
Medicare billing history by item number (for GP and specialist practices)
03
Patient list demographics and retention rates
04
Vendor's transition agreement — how long they'll stay, how patients are introduced
05
Key-person risk assessment — what happens if the incoming principal leaves
06
Security position — what tangible assets and any property can be pledged
Timing Matters
Structure the deal before you sign a Heads of Agreement — not after.
The structure of the deal (vendor finance, deferred consideration, earnouts) affects which lenders can assist and how. A transaction structured one way may have more lending options than the same economic deal structured differently. Getting finance advice early means you're negotiating the purchase with a clear picture of what's fundable.
Early Stage? Start With The Numbers
Get your numbers in order before you sit across from a lender.
Most practitioners who approach a lender without a clear financial picture get one of two outcomes: an approval that doesn't reflect what they actually need, or a decline that could have been avoided with a better-prepared file. We've built a guide for practitioners at this stage — covering the acquisition process from first look to settlement.
Further reading
Where to go next.
01 Location
Why Canberra's health sector reads well to lenders, and who we know locally.
02 Overview
Our full range of finance for medical practitioners and practice owners.
03 Learn
Goodwill, vendor transitions, deposits, and timeframes — explained.
04 Professional
Acquisition, equipment, working capital, partnership transitions, and premises finance.
05 Tool
Model your real take-home from gross billings and service fee, and test whether a practice JV covers its overhead.