(Oct 14): IHH Healthcare Bhd (KL:IHH) is considering joining the race to buy Malaysian hospital assets being sold by TPG Inc, people with knowledge of the matter said. 

TPG has also been sounding out interest from other potential bidders including Warburg Pincus, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is confidential. They would be competing with private equity firms Blackstone Inc, EQT AB and KKR & Co, which have also been weighing potential offers for the assets being sold by TPG-backed Asia OneHealthcare Sdn Bhd, the people said. 

First-round bids are expected to be submitted by the end of this month, the people said. A deal could value the assets at around US$6 billion (RM24.5 billion) to US$8 billion, some of the people said. Asia OneHealthcare also operates a handful of medical facilities in Indonesia and Vietnam, its website showed.  

TPG has also been considering a listing of the Malaysian business as part of a dual-track process. It confidentially filed for a Kuala Lumpur initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as RM10 billion and rank as the country’s biggest IPO in more than a decade, Bloomberg News reported last month. 

Deliberations are ongoing and there’s no certainty they will lead to a deal, the people said. Representatives of Blackstone, EQT, IHH, KKR, TPG and Warburg Pincus declined to comment. A spokesperson for Asia OneHealthcare didn’t respond to queries. 

TPG and Hong Leong Group bought Asia OneHealthcare, previously known as Columbia Asia Healthcare, in 2019. The company adopted its present name in 2024 after consolidating its assets and buying a joint venture between Sime Darby Bhd (KL:SIME) and Australian private hospital operator Ramsay Health Care Ltd. 

Other stakeholders in Asia OneHealthcare include the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Malaysia’s Employees Provident Fund.

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