Mitsui Co invests US$101m in Columbia Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: Columbia Asia, one of the largest and fastest-growing healthcare companies in Asia, is receiving US$101 million (RM409 million) in investment from Mitsui & Co Ltd.
Columbia Asia, part of Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Management, has 27 hospitals and one clinic in India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, built with an innovative business model focused on serving Asia's rapidly growing middle class with modern and efficient multispecialty hospitals located close to where patients live and work.
Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co, already a major healthcare investor in Asia, said it saw tremendous growth potential in the Columbia Asia platform, which is the only healthcare provider in Asia to operate hospitals in so many countries under a single brand, and one of the few large, multinational providers in Asia to build the vast majority of its hospitals itself.
"Columbia Asia has proven over more than 20 years that it can enter new markets across various countries and develop international, high-quality hospitals that meet the needs of the emerging middle class," said Mitsui & Co managing officer and COO of healthcare & service business unit Koji Nagatomi in a statement.
"The company has also established a firm presence in countries where healthcare spending and insurance coverage are going up at a very rapid pace, which positions the firm well in coming decades."
Columbia Asia will use the proceeds from the Mitsui investment to continue to expand its network of hospitals across Asia, including several current development projects. In addition, the company will open its first facility in Africa next month, a multispecialty clinic in Nairobi, Kenya under a new brand, Columbia Africa.
The company currently has 10,000 employees serving more than 2.5 million patients a year, with 2,200 beds across 27 hospitals and one clinic.
As part of its investment, Mitsui will gain two seats on the Columbia Asia board of directors and play a role in company operations.
Mitsui is also an investor in IHH Healthcare Bhd, the largest healthcare company in Asia; MIMS Group, which provides drug information to about two million healthcare professionals in Asia-Oceania; and DaVita Care Pte Ltd, the Asian operating company for the largest dialysis operator in the US.