The Sunway Medical Center and Sunway Sanctuary, an assisted living facility, in Kuala Lumpur.
Courtesy of Sunway Healthcare
Sunway Healthcare Holdings—controlled by Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah—is preparing for an IPO to support its 1.6 billion ringgit ($381 million) expansion strategy.
The company intends to offer up to 1.9 billion shares, representing a 17% stake. The initial public offering will consist of 1.39 billion existing shares and 575 million new shares, as outlined in the preliminary prospectus submitted to the Securities Commission Malaysia. The company has not disclosed the pricing and schedule for the IPO.
“We have promising growth opportunities backed by a well-defined expansion plan,” stated the company in the prospectus.
Following the IPO, Sunway City will retain a 69.5% stake in Sunway Healthcare, while Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC will hold 7.5%. The proceeds from the IPO will be utilized to support expansion initiatives and debt repayment.
Sunway Healthcare is set to construct a new 401-bed hospital in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, with an estimated cost of 766 million ringgit and an anticipated completion by 2032. This hospital will be part of the new developments in the area, which is being jointly developed by Malaysia and Singapore as a special economic zone. Thomson Medical Group, owned by Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim, is also building a 500-bed hospital in Johor as part of an 18-billion-ringgit mixed-use project.
Malaysia is enhancing its hospital capacity to position itself as a key destination for medical tourism in the region. Apart from Johor, Sunway Healthcare, based in Kuala Lumpur, plans to invest 855 million ringgit to double its hospital beds to over 3,400 by 2032 from 1,520 beds at the end of last year.
With a current net worth of $4.3 billion, Cheah is among Malaysia’s wealthiest individuals. Over the past five decades, he has transformed Sunway from a modest tin-mining company into one of the country’s largest conglomerates with interests in various sectors. The group has been expanding its property business in Singapore, recently acquiring Singapore-based homebuilder MCL Land for S$739 million ($578 million).
