Rowsley to acquire Sasteria, owner of Thomson Medical and TMC Life

SINGAPORE: Singapore Exchange (SGX) Mainboard-listed Rowsley Ltd has signed a binding acquisition agreement with its controlling shareholder, Lim Eng Hock, to acquire 100% of Sasteria Pte Ltd, the owner of Thomson Medical Pte Ltd and the controlling shareholder of TMC Life Sciences Bhd (TMCLS), for S $1.6bil.

Under the agreement, Rowsley will acquire a 100% stake in Thomson Medical, Singapore’s largest private provider of healthcare servic- es for women and children, and a 70.36% stake in TMCLS.

TMCLS is a Bursa Malaysia-listed healthcare company with a multi-disciplinary tertiary hospital and leading provider of in-vitro fertilisation services in Malaysia.

Rowsley also intends to change its name to Thomson Medical Group Ltd.

“Post-acquisition, Rowsley will be one of the largest SGX-listed healthcare players,” said Rowsley’s chairman Ng Ser Miang in a statement here.

Ng said both Thomson Medical and TMCLS were well-positioned in their respective markets and the purchase of Sasteria gave Rowsley an opportunity to participate in a fast-growing sector.

“The changing demographics in South-East Asia suggest that private healthcare is poised for a sharp acceleration in growth,” said Ng.

The statement said the purchase consideration of S $1.6bil for Sasteria will be satisfied through 21.3 billion new Rowsley shares at the issued price of S$0.075 apiece.

It said Rowsley would also acquire 597,319,140 TMCLS warrants in cash.

The total consideration was arrived at on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis and taking into account, among others, the profitability of Thomson Medical, TMCLS, their growth potentials and synergies with Rowsley's Vantage Bay Healthcare City development, it said.