by NR INDRAN (INT)

Mumbai  – Fortis Healthcare International Pte Ltd (“Fortis International”) has taken another important step in its path to become a leading integrated healthcare provider in Asia Pacific. The company has entered into an agreement to acquire 65% stake in Hoan My Medical Corporation, Vietnam for US$ 64m. This marks the entry of Fortis International into one of Asia’s fastest growing economies and the group’s first acquisition of a hospital chain outside of India.

Hoan My Medical Corporation (“HMC”) was established in 1997 and has grown to become one of Vietnam’s largest private healthcare provider groups with 700 beds across 5 hospitals. It recorded revenue of US $ 23.8mn in FY10. Its new 200 bed state of art tertiary care hospital is scheduled to open in Ho Chi Minh City by Nov 2011. The group also has a strong foundation of 450 empanelled physicians.

Fortis Healthcare International is spearheading the creation of an integrated healthcare delivery system across Asia Pacific. It intends to build and aggregate healthcare businesses and assets across all healthcare segments including primary care, specialty day care, diagnostics and hospitals. The objective is to create an integrated healthcare business, leveraging off synergies and scale, driven by quality medical professionals and infrastructure and providing patient centric care. The Hoan My Hospitals acquisition provides Fortis Healthcare International with an access to the Indochina region where the healthcare services sector offers significant growth opportunities.

Fortis Healthcare International’s latest investment, the sixth in eight months, marks an important step in consolidating its presence in the growing healthcare delivery market in Asia. In the last eight months, Fortis Healthcare International has acquired the largest private primary care company in Hong Kong, the largest dental care company in Australia, a specialty hospital project in Singapore and a strategic stake in an existing hospital in Sri Lanka. In addition to Fortis International, the Promoter Family also owns a majority stake in India-listed Fortis Healthcare (India) Limited, which has a network of 62 hospitals.

Commenting on the acquisition Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, Group Chairman of Fortis Healthcare, said:

“This acquisition is an important step for Fortis Healthcare International to establish its presence in one of Asia’s fastest growing regions. Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world and its 89 million citizens are aspiring for better healthcare services. Its fast growing economy is a tremendous opportunity for our group to consolidate and establish a high quality patient centric tertiary hospital network. Hoan My Medical Corporation has a strong foundation in Vietnam which we will strengthen further with our group’s experience of more than 20 years in operating tertiary care hospitals.”

Vietnam’s health care system is in the midst of a dramatic transformation. It has in the past been dominantly serviced by the public healthcare system. However, due to the rapid growth of its economy, the private sector healthcare sector has recently emerged. This has led to a much larger role of out-of-pocket expenditures. New policy tools have been developed, including user fees, health insurance and health-care funds which indicate a rapidly evolving healthcare delivery market.

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