BEIJING, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has agreed to buy shares worth $20 million in Asia Pacific Medical Group Limited to help expand access to quality healthcare services for about a million people in China in the next three years.
Asia Pacific Medical Group currently operates a network of six hospitals and one clinic in China, as well as thirteen clinics in Southeast Asia. IFC's financing will be used for hospital acquisition and upgrade to expand the group's operations in Beijing, Tianjin and other Chinese cities. The investment is expected to increase access to quality care, extend services to middle-and lower-income families, and create jobs.
Asia Pacific Medical Group was one of the first foreign health care investors in China. It has been partnering with leading public hospitals for almost two decades and has built a strong market position.
"The partnership with IFC brings us a unique combination of strong credibility, long-term finance and industry knowledge," said Dr. Michael Choy, Chairman of Asia Pacific Medical Group. "It helps our company to be more competitive and sustainable in a fast-growing market such as China."
The demand for quality healthcare is rapidly increasing among China's population of 1.3 billion people. Since 1995, government expenditure in the sector has increased 15 percent annually. Private hospitals are an important and growing component of the country’s healthcare infrastructure and the Chinese government now actively encourages its expansion.
"IFC, as the world's largest multilateral investor in the private health care sector in emerging markets, is keen to work with Asia Pacific Medical Group to show how partnerships between public hospitals and private investors can increase access to quality healthcare for people of lower-income levels," said Lars Thunell, IFC’s Executive Vice President and CEO. "I believe the private sector can play an important role in improving the lives of millions of Chinese."
By end-2011, IFC's total current investments amounted to $1.13 billion for 76 private health care and life sciences projects in 28 countries with over $4.6 billion in total project value. About 30 percent of these projects were in the world’s poorest countries. Through these projects, IFC helps to create jobs, transfer knowledge, train medical personal and make quality healthcare services accessible to more people.
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