New Silkroutes Group to acquire 51% of Healthsciences International

The Singapore-incorporated New Silkroutes Group (NSG) will acquire* a 51% stake in Singapore-based Healthsciences International (HSI) for approximately S$2.17 million in cash, marking its foray into the healthcare sector in Asia. The company intends to offer services ranging from primary and preventive care to systems integration and enterprise resource planning for Asian hospitals and clinics.

NSG is morphing into an investment holding company with businesses in investment management, energy and resources, healthcare, and infocomm technology with a focus on security and governance. The group currently gets most of its revenue from oil and gas trading. 

HSI has a healthcare practice group with expertise to design, develop and run hospitals. The practice group offers healthcare services through its three clinics in Singapore. HSI also has a wholly owned subsidiary, Silk Systems, that provides mission-critical software solutions to help hospitals and healthcare companies work better. These can be for standalone functions such as medical records management and inventory procurement, or a comprehensive information system that integrates all front- and back-end activities, including patient registration, scheduling of appointments for doctors and patients, billing and insurance payments.

HSI's enterprise software operations in China are overseen by a team based in Shanghai. More than 10 medical centres in China - located in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Chengdu - are using HSI's software solutions, which also link them to major insurance companies. 

In Singapore, more than 40 health- and beauty-care chain stores are running on HSI's solutions. With the acquisition of HSI, NSG will offer these solutions to healthcare providers in other Asian markets, including Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.

HSI also runs the largest employee healthcare benefits programme in Southeast Asia, under its Life!Club brand. Beneficiaries can get privileges and discounts at more than 30 healthcare, wellness and lifestyle chains in Singapore. Life!Club's membership base is expected to increase to more than 20,000 over the next 12 months from about 12,800 currently. Following the acquisition, NSG will develop a digital wallet for Life!Club users to pay for purchases at HSI's participating chains.

"This acquisition will open a myriad of opportunities for NSG in the Asian healthcare space, which will be another engine of growth for the Group," said Ho Sheng, Lead Independent and Non-Executive Director at NSG. "We will leverage on the healthcare expertise of some of our senior management executives to drive NSG's healthcare business. HSI will also complement our healthcare investment team in New Silkroutes Capital."

*The acquisition is deemed an interested party transaction as three of HSI's eight existing owners are board directors at NSG - Executive Director and Group CEO Goh Jin Hian, Executive Director Lee Soek Shen and Independent Director Vivien Chen Chou. It does not, however, require the approval of NSG shareholders as the consideration of S$2.17 million is less than 5% of the Group's latest net tangible assets of about US$34.25 million (approximately S$46.55 million).