Singapore’s Thomson Medical to acquire FV Hospital for $381 mln

Thomson Medical Group has agreed to buy French-backed FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for $381.4 million, the Singapore-headquartered company announced Wednesday.

This is the biggest-ever hospital acquisition deal in Vietnam, home to a population of 100 million. “The deal highlights the growing significance of Vietnam’s burgeoning healthcare,” the Singapore-listed company said in a release.

It also marks Southeast Asia’s largest healthcare acquisition since 2020, it added.

Thomson Medical Group, shortly called TMG, will pay about $359.6 million upfront and another $21.8 million should FV Hospital meet certain performance milestones, it said. TMG will fund the deal with internal resources as well as debt.

“FV Hospital provides a strategic foothold for us in Vietnam and a gateway to grow and focus on future investments in this fast-growing market,” said Kiat Lim, Thomson Medical’s executive vice chairman, who first initiated discussions with FV six months ago.

Under the terms of the sales and purchase agreement, TMG has agreed to acquire 100% of Far East Medical Vietnam Limited. The French-backed company operates a range of healthcare facilities in Vietnam, including the 220-bed general FV Hospital and a network of primary and specialist clinics.

Far East Medical Vietnam Ltd., also understood as the FV Group, currently has over 1,600 staff, including more than 200 Vietnamese and expatriate doctors. It also operates, since 2013, an outpatient clinic known as FV Saigon Clinic at the heart of District 1, HCMC’s heart.

It also owns the American Chiropractic Clinic Ltd. (ACC) business, which consists of a network of four clinics across Vietnam. The FV Group acquired ACC in 2022 to make an expansion into chiropractic services and the development of sports medicine.

FV was founded by French medical doctor Jean-Marcel Guillon in 2003 with a group of French physicians who shared the vision of bringing world-class healthcare to Vietnam. Located in the burgeoning HCMC’s District 7, FV Hospital has evolved into a full-service, one-stop provider of quality healthcare for patients locally, as well as from Cambodia.

FV Hospital was the first Joint Commission International (JCI) accredited hospital in southern Vietnam in 2016 and has been accredited twice over, a testament to its commitment to clinical quality and patient-centric service across its decades-long history.

In 2017, Quadria Capital, a healthcare-focused private equity firm announced it bought a stake in FV Hospital for an undisclosed amount. Other investors who joined the investment include funds managed by Neuberger Berman Private Equity and DEG - the German development finance institution under KfW, a German state-owned investment and development bank.

Founded in 1979, Thomson Medical is one of the largest private providers of healthcare services for women and children in Singapore. It shares have fallen about 22% this year, giving it a market value of about $1.2 billion.

Vietnam’s healthcare rising demand

Vietnam’s growing private healthcare market has been driven by favorable macroeconomic tailwinds with significant growth potential in healthcare expenditure.

Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia fuelled by a strong inflow of foreign direct investment given its geographical and competitive advantages, which underpins the strong growth in healthcare expenditure.

The country has recorded strong historical GDP growth at around 8.6% compounded annual growth rate (CARG) for 2017–2022, according to Euromonitor International, with healthcare expenditure growth at around 9.2% CAGR for the period

Accelerating healthcare demand in Vietnam is fuelled by a rising middle class, an aging population, as well as an expanding expatriate population. The country is well on its way towards its goal of becoming an upper-middle-class country by 2035, and a high-income country by 2045, given that the nation has the seventh-fastest growing middle class globally, and will add 36 million to its middle class by 2030, according to Source of Asia, an international business development consultant providing solutions for sourcing, market expansion, and corporate services.

Further underpinning the industry’s robust outlook is Vietnam’s rise as a medical tourism destination, thanks to solid demand from neighboring countries including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

Medical tourism in Vietnam is estimated to generate annual revenues of around $2 billion a year, with recent years seeing an influx of about 300,000 foreign tourists annually for medical checkups and treatments, 40% of whom are concentrated in HCMC, according to official government data.

“FV Hospital has been extremely successful in the past two decades in establishing itself as a premium general hospital. As part of TMG, we hope to work together to take their growth plans to the next level, moving in step with the domestic and medical tourism market momentum in Vietnam,” said Kiat Lim, Thomson Medical’s executive vice chairman.