 "Malaysia's IHH Healthcare offers $1.35 billion for Ramsay-Sime Darby JV")
Ramsay Health Care Ltd and Malaysia-based Sime Darby Holdings have received a $1.35 billion buyout offer from IHH Healthcare Bhd for their Asia joint venture, the Australian hospital operator said on Tuesday.
The proposal gives Ramsay Sime Darby an indicative enterprise value of 5.67 billion ringgit ($1.35 billion) on a cash-free, debt-free basis, Ramsay Health Care said.
Sime Darby and Ramsay Health Care own 50% each in healthcare firm Ramsay Sime Darby.
IHH Healthcare, Asia's largest private healthcare group, confirmed the conditional, non-binding proposal in a separate statement, saying the talks were in preliminary stages and that there was no certainty the deal would materialise.
Ramsay and Sime Darby have agreed to a period of exclusivity for four weeks to allow Malaysia's IHH to conduct due diligence and negotiate a sale and purchase agreement, Ramsay said.
Shares of Ramsay Health Care rose as much as 2.6%, while those of IHH Healthcare inched higher.
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Harshita Swaminathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)