KKR invests in Vietnam eye hospital Medical Saigon Group: memo
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GLOBAL investment firm KKR & Co has emerged as the largest shareholder of one of Vietnam’s biggest eye hospital chains, Medical Saigon Group (MSG), according to an MSG internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday (Jan 19).
Financial details of the investment were not disclosed in the memo sent to MSG’s staff from group chief executive officer Huynh Le Duc.
New York-based KKR will take over as MSG’s largest shareholder from Singapore’s investment firm Heliconia Capital, a wholly owned unit of Temasek Holdings, the memo read.
Heliconia had acquired MSG in 2019.
“KKR will step into the shoes of Heliconia to become our largest shareholder. Heliconia will transition out of MSG after a very successful partnership together,” Duc said in the memo.
“With KKR’s investment and partnership, we will be able to accelerate our growth to reach more patients, deliver better patient outcomes, and expand our footprint across Vietnam.”
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Founded in 2004, MSG has 13 hospitals in Vietnam, including eight ophthalmology hospitals and five general ones, according to its website.
Healthcare assets in South-east Asia are attracting more interest as investors bet on the region’s growth and the sector’s ability to weather a challenging economic environment.
KKR declined to comment. Heliconia and MSG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The acquisition marks KKR’s first major private equity (PE) deal under its partner and South-east Asia PE head Prashant Kumar since he moved to Singapore from India in 2023 to lead the group’s PE business in the region.
KKR, which counts property group Vinhomes and education company EQuest among its investments in Vietnam, also invested in the Philippines’ largest private hospital group, Metro Pacific Health, according to its website. The group invested US$400 million into Malaysian subsea telecommunications cable services provider OMS Group in October 2023. A month before, it acquired a 20 per cent stake in Singtel’s regional data centre business for S$1.1 billion.
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