Sunway Healthcare jumps 28% on debut after Malaysia's biggest IPO in almost a decade

Updates with closing price, new LSEG data in paragraph 4, banker's comment in paragraph 12-13 and advisers in paragraphs 16-17

By Danial Azhar and Yantoultra Ngui

KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) - Malaysia's Sunway Healthcare Holdings SUNA.KL surged 28% on its market debut on Wednesday, after raising 2.86 billion ringgit ($732 million) in the country's biggest initial public offering in almost a decade.

The private hospital operator's stock opened at 1.70 ringgit per share, compared to an IPO price of 1.45 ringgit, and rose as high as 2.07 ringgit. The stock closed at 1.85 ringgit, while the domestic benchmark stock index .KLSE ended 1.1% higher.

Sunway Healthcare, a unit of Malaysian conglomerate Sunway SWAY.KL, is one of Malaysia's leading private healthcare providers with 1,805 licensed beds as of January. Its IPO was the country's largest since Lotte Chemical Titan Holdings' LOTT.KL went public in 2017.

The listing comes as Malaysia's IPO market gathers pace, with upcoming IPOs including a potential REIT listing by IOI Properties IOIP.KL. With Sunway Healthcare's listing, Malaysia topped Southeast Asia in IPO proceeds in the first quarter, according to LSEG data on Wednesday.

BUCKS REGIONAL LISTING TREND

Sunway Healthcare's strong start contrasts with a patchier reception for some other recent Asian listings amid volatile markets due to the war in the Middle East.

Singapore's UI Boustead REIT UIBO.SI traded below its offer price on its debut last week, while recent Hong Kong listings have been hit by broader risk aversion linked to the Middle East conflict. South Korea's KBank 279570.KS also had a muted market launch earlier this month.

“Sunway Healthcare is proud to join the ranks of public listed companies on Bursa, and play our part to further advance Malaysia’s vibrant capital market,” Sunway Chairman Jeffrey Cheah said at the listing event in Kuala Lumpur.

Cheah said Malaysia was attracting more selective investors.

"Malaysia… we can call ourselves the lucky country at the moment. Investors are shying away from other countries, but they are coming to Malaysia. Thanks to the government in the sense that we have a stable government now and we are proactive," he said.

The offering comprised 575 million new shares and 1.39 billion shares sold by existing investors, including Sunway City and Greenwood Capital, an indirect unit of Singapore state investor GIC GIC.UL.

The IPO drew backing from 20 cornerstone investors, among them AIA's Malaysian unit, the Employees Provident Fund and JPMorgan Asset Management. The retail portion was oversubscribed by 5.6 times.

Sunway Healthcare's debut reflected investor appetite for a trusted regional healthcare brand with exposure to medical tourism, and as Southeast Asia's population is ageing, said Art Karoonyavanich, managing director and global head of equity capital markets at DBS.

"We expect the healthcare, biotech and digital infrastructure sectors to continue being strong thematic drivers of Southeast Asia's equity market for the year ahead," he added.

HOSPITAL EXPANSION

Sunway has said it will use the listing proceeds mainly to fund hospital expansion and future growth, and Cheah has said it was looking for regional opportunities. The company operates Kuala Lumpur's Sunway Medical Centre, which is the largest private hospital in Malaysia.

Cheah also said Sunway had received past approaches from both the Singapore Exchange SGXL.SI and Hong Kong 0388.HK about a potential dual listing, but there was "no compelling reason" to pursue one for now and that the company would study its options over time.

AmInvestment Bank AMMB.KL and Maybank MBBM.KL acted as joint principal advisers and joint global coordinators on the IPO, alongside HSBC HSBA.L, Jefferies JEF.N and UBS UBSG.S, according to the prospectus.

Affin Hwang, CIMB CIMB.KL, CLSA Securities, DBS DBSM.SI, RHB Investment Bank RHBC.KL, Mizuho Securities MZFGX.UL and UOB UOB.SI were joint bookrunners, while Baker McKenzie acted as legal advisers to the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.

Financial statements for 2025 released on Monday showed Sunway Healthcare posted a 2% decline in net profit to 252.2 million ringgit, mainly due to higher costs and expenses, while revenue rose 19% to 2.2 billion ringgit from 1.85 billion ringgit.

($1 = 3.9080 ringgit)

(Reporting by Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur and Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by John Mair and Kate Mayberry)

((rozanna.latiff@thomsonreuters.com; @rozlatiff on X;))