RPT-UPDATE 1-Private equity eyeing Healthscope

(Repeats item from July 24) (Adds analyst comment, details)

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE, July 24 (Reuters) - A private equity player is considering making a bid for Australian private hospitals and diagnostics group Healthscope Ltd HSP.AX, an industry source close to the matter said on Thursday.

"We have some interest," the source said, declining to be named.

He would not say whether the private equity player was based in Australia or offshore, but said he was not working with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [KKR.UL], which an Australian media report said was considering a debt-funded bid. "We wouldn't have approached the company at this point," the source said, adding that any bid would be "quite some time away", given the tight credit markets.

Healthscope shares closed up 7.6 percent at A$4.65, valuing the group at A$1.1 billion.

Healthscope shares rose as much as 10 percent on Thursday after an Australian media report noted rumours that U.S. investment group KKR was eyeing a debt-funded bid for Healthscope, which sparked a query from the stock exchange.

Healthscope Ltd HSP.AX said it was not aware of any possible bid for the company.

Between early May and this week, the group's shares had lost a quarter of their value as investors worried about the impact of a plan by the federal government to raise the income threshold at which Australians would be penalised for not buying private health insurance.

Investors fear the proposal, which has yet to be passed by parliament, would result in fewer people buying private health insurance.

That would mean fewer patients would go to Healthscope's private hospitals or health insurers would have less money to pay private health operators.

One analyst said he would be surprised if a private equity investor would want to take the risk of making a bid for Healthscope without knowing parliament's final decision on the health care surcharge and its real impact. ($1=A$1.04) (Additional reporting by Denny Thomas)