Heritas Capital has completed the sale of Malaysian private hospital Timberland Medical Centre to IHH Healthcare, earning around 3x returns, while B2B payments unicorn Nium has secured a payments licence in Japan.
Heritas Capital reaps 3x returns from sale of Malaysia’s Timberland Medical
Singapore-based private equity firm Heritas Capital has completed the sale of Malaysian private hospital Timberland Medical Centre, in which it holds a majority stake, to IHH Healthcare, earning around 3x returns.
In August last year, IHH Healthcare, through its unit Pantai Holdings, announced that it would acquire hospital operator Bedrock Healthcare, which runs Timberland Medical Centre, in an all-cash deal valued at 245 million ringgit (S$72.2 million).
TMC, a Heritas portfolio company since 2016, is a leading private medical centre with 82 beds that was founded 30 years ago. “As the major shareholder of TMC, Heritas collaborated with fellow stakeholders to put in place effective board and medical governance as well as a capable management team which together steered TMC towards achievement of record revenues and profits following a resurgence of patient load post-Covid-19,” the PE firm said in the announcement.
“Heritas will continue to seek new M&A opportunities in Asia under Heritas Growth Fund III where we see our domain expertise can repeatedly help scale promising growth business to deliver greater impact,” said Heritas’ CEO and Executive Director Wai Chiew CHIK.
Nium receives payment licence in Japan
Singapore-based B2B payments unicorn Nium has announced it is the first non-Japanese company to have secured a Type 1 Funds Transfer Service Provider (FTSP) licence from the Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA).
The Type 1 licence authorises Nium to provide a wide range of financial services, including transferring up to 50 million yen per transaction via Zengin-Net, Japan’s local payment clearing rail, to a Japanese beneficiary account.
Most other non-bank entities in Japan, including Money Service Businesses, hold Type 2 licences, which limits cross-border transfers to only 1 million yen.
Nium recently also announced other regulatory approvals across the Asia market, including in India, where it received an in-principle approval for two sought-after payment licences.
Nium started in 2014 as a firm focused on instant remittances. It has since expanded its suite of solutions to help customers send funds to over 190 countries in more than 100 currencies globally. It has licences across money transfer, card issuance, and banking in multiple jurisdictions, allowing it to provide payouts, pay-ins, card issuance, and banking-as-a-service solutions globally.
