China's Jangho Bids for Rest of Healius in $1.4 Billion Deal

(Bloomberg) -- Jangho Group Co. offered to acquire the stake in Australia’s Healius Ltd. it doesn’t already own in a deal that would value the company at about A$2 billion ($1.4 billion), as firms in Asia jostle to acquire health-care operators to serve a growing demand for better doctors and services.

• Beijing-based engineering company Jangho already holds about 16 percent of Healius and is offering A$3.25 a share in cash for the remaining stake, Healius said in a statement Thursday. That represents a 33 percent premium to Healius’ closing price Wednesday of A$2.44.
• Healius, which operates medical centers and specialist clinics in Australia, said it would assess the proposal and hasn’t formed a view on the offer price.

Key Insights

• Asia’s private health-care operators have been expanding to meet the demands of affluent consumers looking for better medical care. Deal activity in the region has been rife, such as Japan’s Mitsui & Co. agreeing in November to pay $2 billion to become the largest shareholder in Malaysian hospital operator IHH Healthcare Bhd.
• Jangho, an engineering and construction company, has been trying to diversify into health-care services. In 2015, it acquired Vision Eye Institute, Australia’s largest ophthalmology chain, with the aim of bringing the eye centers to Chinese cities.

Market Reaction

• Healius shares rose as much as 15 percent to A$2.80 in trading in Sydney on Thursday, for the biggest intraday gain in almost three years. Jangho shares fell as much as 2.9 percent in Shanghai trading.

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• Healius, which changed its name from Primary Health Care last year, operates about 2,400 pathology centers, 70 medical centers and is partnered with 1,500 general practitioners, dentists and other health-care specialists.
• More on Jangho’s statement here.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Rachel Chang in Shanghai at wchang98@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeff Sutherland at jsutherlan13@bloomberg.net, Bhuma Shrivastava

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With assistance from Bloomberg