KUALA LUMPUR (May 22): BP Healthcare Group, founded by Datuk Beh Chun Chuan, said the group has expressed its interest in financially troubled Pharmaniaga Bhd.

In an email reply, Beh said BP Healthcare has “registered our interest”, when The Edge asked if the company has put in a proposal in a bid to turn around Pharmaniaga.

“The reason for the interest in Pharmaniaga is because 'we are in the healthcare business',” he said.

This confirms The Edge Weekly article titled A ‘cheap’ Pharmaniaga is attracting potential investors.

The Edge Weekly quoted sources reporting that Pharmaniaga is understood to have received several proposals from interested parties looking to take a stake and participate in the pharmaceutical company’s restructuring.

The interested parties, according to the sources, include institutional funds, private equity firms and private entities, who are interested in buying into Pharmaniaga at an attractive price, and to turn around the concessionaire which supplies generic drugs to public hospitals.

Last February, Pharmaniaga fell under the Practice Note 17 classification after posting its largest ever quarterly net loss of RM664.39 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2022.

The company took a hefty RM552.3 million impairment on unsold Covid-19 vaccines. It also wrote down the goodwill of its Indonesian manufacturing units of RM50.3 million.

The group is required to submit its regularisation plan to the relevant authorities within 12 months of the announcement, by Feb 27, 2024.

BP Healthcare was founded by Beh and his wife Datin Poh Lay See in 1982. It started as a health diagnostic centre and since then has grown to an integrated healthcare provider including clinic lab, pharmacy, specialist centre, ambulatory, and dental.