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New FDI wave in healthcare sector kicked off
The information about the plan by Indian Fortis Healthcare to buy 50 percent of stakes of the Vietnamese Hoan My Healthcare Group could be the start for a new wave of foreign investors, injecting capital in the healthcare sector in Vietnam.
Bloomberg has reported that Fortis Healthcare is conducting negotiations on the purchase of controlling stakes at the HCM City-based Hoan My Group. The shareholders of Hoan My plan to sell 50 percent of stakes of the group, which has been valuated at 100 million dollars.
Hoan My is now running five hospitals, two clinics and many other healthcare establishments in Vietnam. In October 2009, DWS Vietnam Fund belonging to Deustche Bank and VinaCapital, each poured 10 million dollars into Hoan My.
The deal, if succeeding, will help Fortis Healthcare to increase its presence in Asia, where the healthcare expenses per capita, as EIU (The Economist Intelligence Unit) of The Economist predicted, would increase by 55 percent in 2010-2015.
Prior to that, Fortis Healthcare also purchased the Hong Kong-based Quality HealthCare Asia at 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, or 192.5 million US dollars.
The involved parties have declined to comment about the stake transaction deal. The representative from VinaCapital said that the deal has not yet come to the end, but said that further detailed may be exposed to the public by mid August.
Meanwhile, Dau tu has quoted its sources as saying that the managers of the involved parties once had a working session in India, but they still need to meet again in Vietnam to fulfill the legal and financial issues.
The deal by Fortis Healthcare has caught the special attention from the public because the merger and acquisition (M&A) market in the healthcare sector is not as noisy as in the finance, securities or real estate sectors.
However, in fact, the Vietnamese market is witnessing the presence of many foreign investors in the healthcare sector.
Far East Healthcare Company, the owner of the France-Vietnam Hospital in HCM City is planning an expansion after five years of operation. The representative of the hospital said more buildings will be set up. The expansion of the existing buildings will allow to set up 28 consulting rooms more.
One put into operation, the second building will have 33 consulting rooms in total which can receive 500 patients a day, together the 850-1000 outpatients a day undertaken by the existing building.
It is expected that the expansion would be completed by September 2011.
Neighboring provinces and cities, including Dong Nai and Binh Duong have also become the “aiming points” of many other foreign investors. Nguyen Trung Thanh, Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore, said that Singaporean partners have expressed their willing to build up hospitals in some localities of Vietnam, including Da Nang, Vinh Phuc and Hai Phong.
The Hanh Phuc Maternity-Children Hospital in Thuan An town of Binh Duong province reportedly intending to reach out to Hanoi, but it still has not found the suitable land fund. Meanwhile, Thomson Medical Centre, the manager of the hospital really wants to increase its presence in Vietnam.
Dau tu has quoted its sources as saying that Thomson Medical is one of the candidates for the post of consultant and manager for a hospital project in Nam Thang Long new urban area.
Allan Yeo, Managing Director of Hanh Phuc Hospital said with the high population, Vietnam is really a market with great potentials in the eyes of foreign investors.
According to Gia dinh va Xa hoi, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has released a report saying that by April 2011, Vietnam had licensed 76 foreign direct investment projects in the healthcare sector and social support capitalized at 1.113 billion dollars in total.
vietnamnet
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