The withering bank balances of couples such as the Maloneys are making fortunes for an exclusive group of doctors and investors. The couple is part of a large and expanding demographic of people who need assisted reproductive technologies to conceive children that is transforming IVF from a niche medical specialisation into one of the fastest-growing health businesses in Australia.
Over the past seven years, private equity funds have swooped on many of Australia’s IVF clinics, paying hundreds of millions of dollars for shares previously held mainly by universities and doctors. As more people defer having children and advances such as surrogacy and sperm donation make it easier for “socially infertile” people, such as lesbian and gay couples and single mothers, to create babies, the fund managers anticipate a doubling in Australia’s $500 million-a-year IVF industry over the next few years.
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