A consortium jointly led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and conglomerate Hong Leong Group has completed the acquisition of Kuala Lumpur’s International Medical University (IMU), according to a Bursa Malaysia filing on Friday.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education had earlier this month given its nod for the transaction.
The transaction, according to the filing, was completed for about 1.39 billion Malaysian ringgit ($315 million) but the amount is subject to post-completion adjustments. The amount is based on IMU’s valuation of 1.35 billion ringgit and IMU Group’s adjusted EBITDA of 81.39 million ringgit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021.
IMU is the medical education arm of the integrated healthcare services provider IHH Healthcare Berhad. The acquisition, announced in June last year, was part of IHH’s ongoing review of its portfolio to prioritise returns by focusing on long-term core assets.
According to IHH’s recent filing to Bursa Malaysia, IMU Health Sdn Bhd and its subsidiaries–IMU Education, IMU Healthcare, IMC Education, IMU Dialysis, and IMU Omega–are no longer the subsidiaries of IHH as on March 31, 2022.
The Rise Fund is the global impact investing platform of private equity giant TPG Inc. It made another education investment in Malaysia by signing a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling stake in the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU) from KV Asia in February.
For the latter transaction, The Rise Fund led a consortium that includes Malaysia’s public service pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) and state pension fund Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Education is a core investment theme for TPG across its platforms. It focuses on high-growth sectors like tech enablement and healthcare.
The Rise Fund has approximately $16 billion in assets under management (AUM) while TPG has $135 billion of assets under management. TPG’s Asia-focused private equity firm TPG Capital Asia has previously invested in Sri KDU, REAL Schools, and GEMS as part of the Malaysian premier education group XCL Education.
