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Ramsay Wasim Darby Levers BofA and Deutsche to Sell $1.3 Billion Healthcare Venture in Asia – Sources

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HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australian Ramsay Healthcare and Malaysia’s Sime Darby (SIME.KL) have hired Bank of America (BAC.N) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) to sell their healthcare joint venture for $1.3 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.

One source said the two companies may launch the sale of Selangor-based Ramsay Syme Darby Healthcare in the next two months depending on market conditions.

Both sources declined to reveal their identities because the matter is a matter of privacy.

The sale of the joint venture marks the largest healthcare deal in Southeast Asia since 2019, and comes at a time when healthcare assets are attracting more interest as investors bet on the sector’s ability to weather tough economic conditions.

Ramsay Syme-Darby referred a Reuters inquiry about the designation of the banks to the owners.

Ramsay, Australia’s largest private hospital operator, and Sim Darby referred Reuters to their announcements from June 28 saying the joint venture partners were considering selling the business, which confirmed a Reuters report in late March.

Spokespeople for Sime Darby and Ramsey did not comment on the banks’ appointment. Deutsche declined to comment. Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the latest sign of interest in the sector, Singapore’s Thomson Medical (THOS.SI) last week announced the acquisition of Vietnam-based Far East Medical Vietnam, for $381.4 million.

Ramsay Sime Darby was formed in 2013 by joint venture of equals to expand healthcare business in Southeast Asia.

Its portfolio consists of 1,530 licensed beds across seven hospitals in Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Sime Darby Annual Report 2022. The company employs 4,500 people.

A previous attempt to sell Ramsay Sime Darby to IHH Healthcare (IHHH.KL) failed until last September, shortly after a consortium led by KKR & Co (KKR.N) pulled an offer worth nearly $15 billion for Ramsay.

IHH, one of Asia’s largest private healthcare groups, made an offer of 5.67 billion ringgit ($1.25 billion) for Ramsay Sime Darby, but no binding agreement was reached.

($1 = 4.5500 ringgit)

Additional reporting by Ken Wu in Hong Kong and Yantoltra Ngoy in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Yantoultra Ngui is Southeast Asia deals correspondent with Reuters in Singapore, covering mergers and acquisitions and capital markets deals in a region fast emerging as a hot destination for start-up investors, unicorns, and IPOs. He was previously a reporter for Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. Most notably, he was part of the Wall Street Journal team that covered the financial scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB. Yantolitra graduated with an MBA in Finance from University Putra Malaysia in 2010.

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