New Silkroutes Group to buy dental clinics and equipment suppliers for S$5.28m

MAINBOARD-LISTED New Silkroutes Group (NSG) on Monday said that it will acquire majority control of eight dental clinics and two dental equipment suppliers in Singapore for S$5.28 million.

This will pave the way for the group to expand the capabilities of its recently installed healthcare subsidiary, Healthsciences International Pte Ltd, which NSG acquired in December last year.

Of the eight clinics, NSG will take a 70 per cent stake in five of them for S$4.2 million. These five clinics - Crescent Dental Clinic; DentalTrendz Clinic; Trendz Dental Surgeons; L'ving Vine Dental Clinic and Dover Dental Surgery - are in heartland estates and are currently equally owned by two dental practitioners, Keith Alan Liew and Kee Keng Hsiung.

NSG will acquire 51 per cent of the remaining three clinics - Orange Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopaedics; Orange Aesthetics and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery; and Orange Dental Specialist - from VicPearly Wong. All three clinics are located in Orchard Road. The group will also take a 51 per cent stake in two companies owned by Dr Wong that supply and distribute medical and dental equipment. The total consideration for Dr Wong's three clinics and two dental equipment firms is S$1.08 million.

NSG will issue about 7.92 million new shares at 66.7 Singapore cents each to fund the acquisitions, which are expected to be completed by July 31, 2017. The clinics and dental equipment firms will be folded into HSI, NSG's 51 per cent-owned healthcare subsidiary.