Netcare CEO again delays retirement

• The chosen successor told the board they could not assume the role in the agreed time frame

Private hospital group Netcare announced it has extended the contract for CEO Richard Friedland after the candidate it identified for the role pulled out at the last minute. In a statement accompanying the results of its latest AGM on Friday, Netcare told shareholders that the selected candidate had informed its board recently of “certain unforeseen contractual obligations” that prevented the candidate assuming the role of CEO within the agreed time frame.

Private hospital group Netcare announced it has extended the contract for CEO Richard Friedland after the candidate it identified for the role pulled out at the last minute.

In a statement accompanying the results of its latest AGM on Friday, Netcare told shareholders that the selected candidate recently informed its board of “certain unforeseen contractual obligations” preventing them from assuming the role of CEO within the agreed time frame.

As a result, it said Friedland had accepted the board’s request to continue serving as CEO until September 2026, delaying his retirement further and prolonging the group’s hunt for new leadership.

In July 2023, Friedland announced that he would step down from the role by the end of

September last year, but his effective retirement date was postponed by six months after his replacement was reportedly unavailable for an extended period.

Shareholders and investors will continue to closely watch Netcare’s CEO succession planning, as Friedland’s retirement after almost two decades at the helm of the private hospital operator could mark a big change in the group’s leadership.

Friedland has been at the company, valued at about R19.5bn on the JSE, for three decades, and has served as CEO for 18 years, during which he guided it through the construction of five new flagship hospitals.

Business Day reported that during Friedland’s tenure, Netcare founded new business units such as Netcare 911 and turned its focus to the digitisation of healthcare, which includes electronic patient records, scripts, blood and other pathology test results and radiology results.

Netcare, which operates 49 acute hospitals and 14 mental health hospitals across the country, reported profit after tax and exceptional items of R1.5bn in the year to end-September 2024, when its capital expenditure came to R1.5bn.

As the group returns to the drawing board again, Netcare said its board “remains committed to the CEO succession planning process and will continue working towards identifying a suitable candidate to ensure a smooth and strategic transition”.