Asian Healthcare Group plans to raise RM750m through SPAC

PETALING JAYA: Asian Healthcare Group Bhd, yesterday revealed plans to list as a special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) on the local stock exchange to raise RM750 million.
The group, which will be led by Datuk Chevy Beh, a former director of BP Healthcare Group, will see former Hong Leong Bank Bhd CEO and MD Yvonne Chia as its chairman, along with outgoing SP Setia Bhd acting president & CEO Datuk Voon Tin Yow as an independent non-executive director in the company.
In its draft prospectus put up on the Securities Commission's website, the group said it will acquire either secondary and/or tertiary care hospitals with between 100 and 500 beds in Malaysia as assets for its qualifying acquisition.
Secondary care refers to the intermediate healthcare services or consultation by medical doctors and medical specialists to patients, usually referred by primary care personnel and may be delivered on an inpatient or outpatient basis, while tertiary care is the level of healthcare services provided to patients which typically involves specialist consultative care, advanced treatment or complex surgery and inpatient care.
The group plans to set aside 95% of its proceeds for the acquisition of the qualifying asset.
During the initial years, Asian Healthcare's business will be focused mainly in Malaysia to after building a sufficiently strong home base. In the medium term, it intends to venture overseas, potentially in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, through strategic partnership models. It intends to have majority ownership of the overseas ventures (subject to local foreign ownership regulations) but with a strong local partner which will significantly reduce start-up and market-entry risks.
Asian Healthcare's IPO consists of a public issue of 1.5 billion shares, representing 80% of its enlarged issued and paid-up ordinary share capital upon listing, together with 1.5 billion attached warrants, at an issue price of 50 sen each.
About 112.550 million new shares will be allocated for its retail offering which comes with 112.55 million attached warrants, while the bulk of the public issue of about 1.38 billion shares will be open to institutional investors, which will come with 1.38 billion attached warrants.