【英语国际】新加坡医疗企业股权受外国投资者垂青

The tale of rival Indian and Malaysian bidders for a Singapore-based health-care chain might be described as 'same hospital bed, different dreams.'

A full-on bidding war for Parkway Holdings Ltd., a successful Singaporean provider of swanky, high-end hospital care, broke out last week when India's Fortis Healthcare Ltd. announced an offer for the shares it doesn't already own in Parkway that values the company at 4.32 billion Singaporean dollars (US$3.10 billion). Fortis's bid of S$3.80 a share tops a partial takeover offer of S$3.78 a share from a unit of Malaysia's sovereign-wealth fund aimed at securing majority control without having to buy the whole asset.

The two offers share one thing: a belief that rapidly growing demand for quality health services around Asia represents a unique business opportunity. But the offers from each of Parkway's two biggest shareholders envision different players -- one government-owned, another a private-sector industry leader -- grabbing the consolidator's position.

Malaysia's interest in Parkway is clear. It holds 24.1% of Parkway outright through Khazanah Nasional Bhd., the state-owned investment fund, and owns 60% of a Malaysian Parkway affiliate. Parkway also generates 26% of its revenue in Malaysia, which is expected to be a key driver of its future growth, according to a Citi Investment Research report.

Moreover, Parkway offers tiny Singapore's bigger, less developed neighbor a chance to leapfrog into a leading position in high-end health care, an industry the government has singled out for strategic growth. Malaysia already has used government funds in that effort. State-owned oil company Petroliam National Bhd., or Petronas, owns a luxury, 'futuristically designed' (as the website puts it) 300-bed hospital in the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur, built two years ago in part to promote medical tourism.

For Fortis, Parkway offers a chance to expand from its base in India across the region. One of India's largest hospital groups, Fortis is run by brothers of the Singh family that founded drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. In an email, Fortis Chairman Malvinder Mohan Singh said a combination between Fortis and Parkway would create a 'pan-Asian health-care platform' stretching from the Gulf to Southeast Asia, with both China and India offering big opportunities.

Even more than industry rival Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., Fortis has made expansion a priority, tripling the number of hospital beds it manages in the last 18 months.

Fortis probably thought it already had what it wanted from Parkway. After buying private-equity firm TPG's 23.9% stake in the Singapore company earlier this year, Fortis took control of a majority of the board seats. Khazanah's partial offer has now forced the Indian company to stump up for the whole company, with the Singh family investing alongside Fortis to help fund the deal. And it is still possible Khazanah could come back with a rival offer that thwarts Fortis's ambitions.

Mr. Singh said that while he is constrained by Singapore takeover law as to what he says about how the situation with Fortis and Khazanzah might work out, he noted 'we have great respect for Khazanah and are open to options that will unlock value for Parkway, and benefit all stakeholders.'

So far, Parkway's shareholders are clear winners: Its stock has surged 27% since the first bid, including a 7.3% jump Friday. So is TPG, which cashed out earlier in this drama by selling its stake to Fortis in March for US$686 million. The U.S. private-equity firm invested a total of US$358 million in Parkway through several acquisitions beginning in May 2005. According to a banker familiar with the deal, once dividends and borrowings are taken into account, TPG earned a threefold return on investment.

Even as the promise of Asia's penchant for spending on medical services attracts new investors, some earlier ones are harvesting the rewards.

印度与马来西亚的两家公司对新加坡一家医保连锁公司进行投标，可用同“床”(医院)异梦来描述。

新加坡百汇控股公司（Parkway Holdings Ltd.）是家成功的豪华、高端新加坡医保提供商，对这家公司发起的全面竞标战于上周打响。印度富通医疗保健有限公司(Fortis Healthcare Ltd.)宣布了对其尚未拥有的百汇公司股票的报价，使该公司价值达到43.2亿坡元(合31.0亿美元)。富通出价每股3.80坡元，高于马来西亚主权财富基金下属部门每股3.78坡元的出价，马来西亚计划对百汇进行部分收购，旨在不购入全部资产而获得控股权。

两家公司的出价反映出相同的一点，两家均认为，亚洲对优质医保服务的需求不断增长带来了一个不同寻常的经营机遇。但百汇这两个最大股东的出价代表了抓住整合时机的不同行业运营者：一家是国有企业，另一家是私企行业龙头。

马来西亚对百汇的兴趣显而易见，直接通过主权投资基金──马来西亚国库控股国民投资有限公司（Khazanah Nasional Bhd，下称马来西亚国库控股）持有百汇24.1%的股份，并拥有百汇一家附属公司60%的股份。据花旗投资研究(Citi Investment Research)报告称，百汇26%的收入来自马来西亚，该国有望成为其未来增长的主要推动力。

此外，百汇为马来西亚提供一个机会，以在高端医疗业中大步取得领先地位，新加坡这个欠发达的、面积更大的邻国已将医疗作为其战略增长的一个行业，并已将政府资金投入其中。国有石油公司Petroliam National Bhd.( 也称为Petronas)在该国首都吉隆坡拥有一家300个床位的具有“未来性设计”的豪华医院，该医院建于两年前，部分原因是为促进医疗旅游。

对印度富通来说，百汇为其从立足于印度到在该地区进行扩展提供了一个机会。富通是印度最大的医院集团之一，由创建印度制药公司Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd的辛格(Singh)兄弟进行经营。富通公司董事长马尔温德•辛格(Malvinder Mohan Singh)在一封电子邮件中说，富通与百汇整合将打造一个从海湾到东南亚地区的泛亚医疗平台，中国与印度两国都会提供巨大的机会。

尽管其床位数高于行业对手阿波罗医院企业有限公司(Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd.)，富通已将业务扩展视为重头戏，在过去18个月中将其管理的医院床位数增加了两倍。

富通此前可能认为，从百汇已得到了所要之物。今年早些时候从美国私募股权投资公司TPG购得百汇23.9%的股份后，富通控制了百汇董事会的大多数席位。现在，马来西亚国库控股公司进行部分收购迫使富通不情愿地出价购买整个公司，辛格家族与富通一起投资，以解决这笔交易的资金问题。而马来西亚国库控股公司仍可能再出一个有竞争性的报价阻挠富通的收购计划。

尽管辛格说新加坡公司收购法对他谈论富通与马来西亚国库控股公司竞购案结果加以了限制，但他也说，我们对马来西亚国库控股公司抱有极大的尊敬，并对能释放百汇的价值、并使所有利益相关者获益的方案持开放态度。

迄今为止，百汇的股东显然是赢家。自首轮投标以来，百汇的股价已上扬27%，其中上周五涨幅高达7.3%。美国私募股权投资公司TPG也是受益者，该公司于3月份即以6.86亿美元将其持股出售给富通公司。TPG从2005年5月始，通过几次收购在百汇共投资3.58亿美元。据熟悉这笔交易内情的一位银行家说，计入股息及借款后，TPG这笔投资的回报达三倍。

这说明，就在亚洲增加医疗服务开支的计划吸引着新投资者之时，一些早期投资者正在摘桃子。