Ramsay, Sime Darby tap BofA, Deutsche to sell $1.3 bln Asia healthcare venture - sources

By Kane Wu and Yantoultra Ngui

HONG KONG/SINGAPORE, July 20 (Reuters) - Australia's Ramsay Health Care and Malaysia's Sime Darby have hired Bank of America and Deutsche Bank to sell their $1.3 billion healthcare joint venture, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The companies could launch the sale of Selangor, Malaysia-based Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care within the next two months depending on market conditions, one of the sources said.

Both sources declined to be identified as the matter is private.

The joint venture's sale would mark the largest healthcare deal in Southeast Asia since 2019 and comes at a time when healthcare assets are attracting more interest as investors bet on the sector's ability to weather tough economic conditions.

Ramsay Sime Darby referred Reuters' query on the appointment of the banks to its owners.

Ramsay, Australia's largest private hospitals operator, and Sime Darby referred Reuters to their announcements from June 28 saying the joint venture partners were exploring the sale of the company, which confirmed a Reuters' report in late-March.

Spokespeople for Sime Darby and Ramsay did not comment on the appointment of the banks. Deutsche declined to comment. Bank of America did not immediately respond to request seeking comment.

In the latest sign of interest in the sector, last week, Singapore's Thomson Medical announced the acquisition of Vietnam-based healthcare facilities provider Far East Medical Vietnam for $381.4 million.

Ramsay Sime Darby was set up in 2013 through an equal joint venture to expand their healthcare business in Southeast Asia.

Its portfolio consists of 1,530 licensed beds across seven hospitals in Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Sime Darby's 2022 annual report. The company employs 4,500 people.

An earlier effort to sell Ramsay Sime Darby to IHH Healthcare fell through last September, soon after a KKR & Co Inc-led consortium withdrew a near $15 billion offer for Ramsay.

IHH, one of Asia's largest private healthcare groups, had presented a 5.67 billion ringgit ($1.25 billion) offer for Ramsay Sime Darby, but a binding agreement could not be reached. ($1 = 4.5500 ringgit) (Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul)