Healthscope, a tenant of HealthCo Healthcare and Wellness REIT's (ASX:HCW) hospital properties, appointed advisory firm KordaMentha to prepare a contingency plan in case of voluntary administration, according to a Thursday report by the Australian Financial Review, citing unnamed sources.

The news comes after HealthCo, which is run by HMC Capital (ASX:HMC), announced earlier this week Healthscope's failure to pay all rent due for March for 11 hospitals.

Healthscope is in negotiations with lenders over potential breaches of loan terms, AFR reported. However, the sources described the engagement of KordaMentha as precautionary, stressing it does not indicate imminent administration.

HCW did not specifically comment on the appointment of KordaMentha in an email response to MT Newswires. However, it referred to its results announcement in February where it said it would seek to replace Healthscope's tenancies with other hospital operators if Healthscope were to breach its lease obligations.

Healthscope did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

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