Baird Capital invests in China's Kedu Healthcare
Baird Capital, the private investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co, has invested in Kedu Healthcare, one of China's largest independent medical equipment service providers.
Financial details of the investment, made by the Baird's China Growth Equity group, were not disclosed. However, the fund typical makes growth-stage investments $5 million to $15 million.
Kedu was established in 2006 by James Ni, a former executive of GE Healthcare. The company provides medical equipment and maintenance services, and distributes spare parts and consumables to Chinese healthcare original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Since its inception the business claims to have installed more than 23,000 pieces of equipment in 10,000 hospitals.
With this latest investment Baird intends to leverage its extensive healthcare network to help add new US and European equipment and instrument manufacturers to the Kedu platform in China. Brett Tucker - a partner with Baird's China team - will join the Kedu board of directors as part of the deal.
"We discovered that many US and European healthcare instrument and equipment makers are finding it very difficult to provide quality maintenance service and spare parts to their hospital customers across China," said Tucker in a statement. "Kedu's broad network of more than 400 service and sales engineers across China is a compelling solution to that problem and we are excited to partner with the company's experienced management team to drive further business growth."
Baird's Greater China-focused fund - Baird Capital Partners Asia Fund I - had its final close in December 2008 at $72 million, just two months after it launched. Other recent investments include Boston Plastics and the Henan Bingxiong Refrigerated Truck company.
The private equity operations of Robert W. Baird & Co were rebranded under the new umbrella name of Baird Capital in January. Last year, Baird globally deployed more than $140 million in 33 new or follow-on investments and realized nearly $130 million, principally through three exits.
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