Navis acquires Malaysia hospital developer

The private equity firm plans to build out a platform of 5-10 hospitals during the holding period, supporting M&A as well as providing additional growth capital and guidance on institutionalization and best-practice governance.

The plan is to focus on brownfield and late-stage greenfield hospitals primarily in Malaysia. In particular, Aurelius will target a perceived gap in high-quality care for middle-income populations outside the Klang Valley urbanized region, which includes Kuala Lumpur.

Aurelius currently has two tertiary hospital projects underway said to have a combined enterprise value of $80 million. These include an existing 100-bed hospital and a 200-bed hospital expected to be operational in 12-15 months. A pipeline of 4-5 additional projects is expected to be expeditated with support from Navis.

Navis stressed the credentials of Aurelius CEO Amir Firdaus, who has 25 years’ experience with major healthcare groups in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

“With Dato Amir and the Aurelius team, we strongly believe that we have the A-team that will create substantial, sustainable value in the Malaysian healthcare space,” Edwin Fua, a partner at Navis, said in a statement. “His collaborative style matches well with our own values.”

Malaysia’s healthcare market is expected to grow 8-10% a year over the next few years with increasing demand for private healthcare driven by an expansion of the middle-income segment. An aging population, rising insurance penetration, and under-investment in public hospitals over the past years will also support the trend.

Malaysia-based Navis typically makes growth buyout investments in a range of $30-150 million and currently manages about $5 billion in private equity across the region.

The firm, which has extensive experience in low-complexity construction projects, made its first investment in the more exacting hospital space with Vietnam’s Hanoi French Hospital in 2016. Hanoi French is currently undergoing an expansion of its own with the construction of a $30 million seven-story building.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Healthcare
• Buyouts
• Malaysia
• Navis Management