Nov 29, 2011

Malaysia - Khazanah actively pursuing investments in healthcare and insurance



PETALING JAYA: Khazanah Nasional Bhd is actively pursuing investments in healthcare and insurance sectors, going by recent reports.

Reuters reported yesterday that the sovereign wealth fund had committed to purchase US$150mil (RM479.8mil) worth of H-shares in New China Life Insurance Co Ltd.

Also this week, a Bloomberg report stated that Khazanah's unit may buy a stake in Turkey's largest hospital chain, Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri & Ticaret AS for US$1bil (RM3.2bil). It said Khazanah, which was bidding through its hospital unit Integrated Healthcare Holdings Sdn Bhd, was in exclusive talks with Acibadem's co-owner Abraaj Capital Ltd after it outbid rivals including Fortis Healthcare International Pte Ltd.

Khazanah is in the process of listing its healthcare arm. “God willing, the listing will be next year,” Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar was quoted as saying.

Khazanah owns 70% of Integrated Healthcare while the balance is held by Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd.

In June last year, Integrated Healthcare offered S$3.5bil (RM8.6bil) for the rest of Singapore's Parkway Holdings Ltd, beating a rival bid from Fortis Healthcare Ltd. It also owns Pantai Hospitals Sdn Bhd, the second biggest hospital operator in Malaysia, and has an investment in Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. Apollo is India's largest private hospital group. It is listed on the stock exchanges of Madras and Mumbai, in India.

Khazanah also owns 100% in International Medical University (IMU) which owns IMU education.

The state fund has been hiving off non-core business holdings to raise cash for its investment needs. It had recently sold its 32.21% stake in Pos Malaysia Bhd for RM622.8mil to DRB-HICOM Bhd. Its wholly owned subsidiary UEM Group had sold its entire stake of 86.81% in Pharmaniga to Boustead for RM534mil in June 2010.

The state investment arm was also been reported to be in the running to take up a block of shares in the listing of AIA Group Ltd, Hong Kong Stock Exchange's biggest initial public offering in 2010.

As at Oct 31, Khazanah has a 31.58% stake in ACR Capital Holdings Pte Ltd. ACR Capital's wholly-owned subsidiary, Asia Capital Reinsurance Group Pte Ltd, focuses on providing clients reinsurance solutions for large and specialist risks in the pan-Asian region. Singapore-based Asia Capital has a regional presence in Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Bahrain and Dubai.

The Star



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