The reason for Aspen selling part of their Aus opperations

Why did Aspen seemingly sell a sizeable portion of their Australian business? It took me a little while to figure it out, first and foremost the Price Disclosure Reductions for 2015 April Cycle from the Australian government Department of Health might reveal that margins for manufacturers Down Under are going to become harder to maintain. If the government, anywhere in the world, wants to get your business to sell your manufactured goods at a lower and lower rate (and not let the market decide ultimately) then I guess it may be a good idea to sell that business. I think if the Australian government covers all and sundry for their healthcare needs, then I guess they can set or stipulate the prices, all I know in the long run, setting prices promotes less and less competition. If you do it in an orderly manner, then I suspect you still attract business.

It seems from what I could ascertain, Aspen had indicated that they were moving some of the Australian production to their Port Elizabeth manufacturing facilities and more importantly had committed to shutting down two facilities in Australia. From what I could gather, from the details of the sales of businesses in Australia and Singapore (refresher, download the document: Aspen Strides Product Divestment Agreement), it is effectively one eighth of the business. And it is noncore, see from the release: "These transactions form part of Aspen's communicated strategic intent to focus attention in areas where most value can be added and to lessen complexity." Simpler and making sure that the focus is on the growth areas of the business, using the cash from these transactions to either pay down debt or to continue to expand in the region.