As reported by Business Times, Advancing to the second round of the auction, Temasek Holdings, Singapore State Investor and the buyout firm, KKR will compete to buy stake in the hospital unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
A month ago, Metro Pacific had announced their plan to sell a minority stake in its unit at a valuation of up to US$2.5 billion, which could make it the country’s biggest healthcare deal.
The sources have said that the Philippine conglomerate’s primary plan is to bring external institutional investors into the hospital chain despite an IPO (initial public offering) application filed last week. Sources also added that the bidders are valuing the hospital unit at up to US$2 billion, pegging its valuation at just over 20 times next year’s estimated core profit, as they seek a majority economic stake in it.
Metro Pacific group owns 85.6% stake in the hospital unit, and added that funds will be used to cut debt and support hospital expansion.
