A consortium jointly led by The Rise Fund, the global impact investing platform of private equity giant TPG Inc, and the Malaysian conglomerate Hong Leong Group has received the nod to acquire the International Medical University (IMU) in Kuala Lumpur for 1,345 million Malaysian ringgit ($306 million).
IMU is the medical education arm of the integrated healthcare services provider IHH Healthcare Berhad.
The transaction, which also includes the sale of a hospital owned by IMU to Columbia Asia, was approved by Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education, according to IHH’s filing to Bursa Malaysia on Monday.
The acquisition was announced in June last year.
“IMU will continue to make a strong contribution to the sector under the new ownership. This recalibration of our portfolio is a considered decision as part of our new strategy; we will deploy the proceeds to optimise our operations and clinical services plus invest into new growth peaks for IHH,” Dr Kelvin Loh, the then CEO of IHH, had said at the time.
The divestment is part of IHH’s ongoing review of its portfolio and capital deployment to prioritise returns and focus on long-term core assets. The Group plans to focus on strengthening its healthcare operations in existing markets and extending its footprint into new markets.
IHH Healthcare offers comprehensive and personalised care ranging from primary to quaternary, and even ancillary services such as laboratory, diagnostics, imaging and rehabilitation. The group currently operates in Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, India, and Greater China (including Hong Kong).
Last month, TPG had acquired a controlling stake in Malaysia’s Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU) from KV Asia in a deal that could be worth more than $300 million, reported DealStreetAsia.
In addition, TPG Capital Asia, the firm’s Asia-focused PE platform, earlier invested in K-12 education businesses Sri KDU, Real Schools, and GEMS in Malaysia as part of XCL Education, an education platform across Southeast Asia.
TPG is a global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $135 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. The firm invests across five multi-product platforms — capital, growth, impact, real estate, and market solutions.
TPG raised $30 billion last year, of which $3.6 billion was in Q4 2022. The fresh capital raised in 2022 included $8.9 billion in its TPG IX vehicle, $3.4 billion in Asia VIII, and also $6.8 billion in TREP IV, which is part of TPG Real Estate Partners.
