Malaysia - Khazanah’s healthcare unit likely next mega IPO

KUALA LUMPUR: Whether or not Felda Global Ventures Sdn Bhd (FGV) turns out to be the country’s biggest IPO next year, it is certainly expected to be among the best performing ones — going by how well shares of Felda’s sugar unit, MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd, perform post IPO.

Even as FGV decides on investment bankers for its listing, the guessing game has already begun on what other big IPOs could be in the pipeline for the local bourse.

One obvious candidate is Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd — whose assets include hospital chain operator Pantai Holdings Bhd and Singapore’s healthcare provider Parkway Holdings Ltd.

In April, Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said Integrated Healthcare would be floated in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore within three years.

The 30% block in Integrated Healthcare sold to Japan’s second largest trader Mitsui & Co in April for RM3.3 billion effectively valued the healthcare group at RM11 billion.

The exercise — which involved the issuance of new shares and Khazanah selling a portion of its stake — saw Integrated Healthcare raise RM1.98 billion cash. At the time, its enterprise value was RM14.61 billion, said Khazanah, whose wholly-owned Pulau Memutik Ventures (PMV) raised RM1.32 billion from the deal and still holds 70% of Integrated Healthcare.

“An IPO and the repackaging of Integrated Healthcare with a good basket of assets is probably the best way for Khazanah to recoup its huge investment in taking Parkway private after the bidding war [with India’s Fortis Healthcare] last year,” one analyst said.

Cindy Yeap

Business & Investment Opportunities

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