Today marks a pretty momentous day in our business history. On this day 5 years ago Stuart and I acquired the majority shareholding in the business known then as HOCA (Haemotology and Oncology Clinics Australasia).
Many of the oncologists and haemotologists who had founded or subsequently joined HOCA stayed on the share registry, and became our partners in the journey that saw HOCA rebrand as Icon Cancer Care and expand to include additional sites and additional doctor shareholders across Australia.
Iin 2014 Quadrant Private Equity invested in Icon Cancer Care, and their balance sheet strength enabled the formation of what has since become the Icon Group, via the acquisitions of ROQ or Radiation Oncology Queensland, (subsequently rebranded to ROC) the Epic Pharmacy management services company, chemotherapy compounder Slade Health and the Slade Pharmacy management services company, and Singapore Oncology Consultants (now rebranded as Icon SOC). Each of those businesses were also founded by entrepreneurial health care practitioners, who were able to add their significant skills to the group and deliver on what has been subsequent exponential growth both domestically and internationally.
Looking back to the day of that original transaction it’s hard to believe the incredible change that has taken place in the five years since. The original shareholder group always had a belief that we could build a healthcare business that could not only make a substantial impact on the way cancer care was accessed in Australia, but would also be able to be exported into other international markets. That was a vision shared by the founders and leaders of each of the businesses who also became part of Icon Group, and the quality and calibre of the teams of each of those businesses, plus the additional highly skilled people who have joined us along the way, have seen that vision become a reality in five short years.
Stuart and I were reflecting on the sleepless night that we had hoping that all of the moving pieces would fall into place the following day to allow settlement to occur on what we believed had the potential to be a defining point in our business history. Clearly those final pieces did fall into place, and while it certainly hasn’t always been smooth sailing and it definitely hasn’t been easy, it’s been five years that we wouldn’t have swapped for the world. We love what we do and the wonderful teams of people that we have the opportunity to work alongside every day.
On a date that for us will always be viewed as iconic, it’s highly fitting that we’re welcoming Dr Tan and Dr Whang, 2 of the 3 founders of Icon SOC, to the Icon Group Brisbane head office today. The past five years have been a long way from dull, and we can’t wait to see what the next five have in store!
