Singapore

PRIVATE equity firms Coalition Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus have been shortlisted to buy Singaporean medical services provider Fullerton Healthcare Corp in a deal that could be worth about US$1 billion, according to people with the knowledge of the matter.

Binding bids from the US and South-east Asian buyout firms are expected before the end of the month, said the people, who asked not to be named as the process is private.

Other suitors could emerge and there is no guarantee that a sale will be completed, the people said.

Any deal would add to the US$7.7 billion in health-care services M&A in Asia-Pacific this year, Bloomberg data show.

Besides Fullerton, Malaysia's Sunway Group is also seeking to sell an interest in a healthcare business in the region, Bloomberg News reported last year.

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Fullerton Health, whose owners include Singaporean private equity firm SIN Capital Group, tapped Bank of America Corp to revive the previously stalled sale because the pandemic has helped boost its business, the people said in January.

The company, which was founded in 2010, operates medical facilities in nine Asia-Pacific markets from China to Malaysia and Australia, offering general practitioner, screening and diagnostics services, according to its website.

Backed by Ping An Insurance Group Co, it is also working with We Doctor Holdings Ltd in China to set up primary care and specialist outpatient clinics.

A representative for Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

Representatives for Coalition Capital and Fullerton Health did not respond to requests for comment. BLOOMBERG