Healthway Medical Corp

Private equity firm Gateway Partners agreed on the weekend to sell $15 million in face value of convertible bonds to a Lippo Group vehicle, Gentle Care, for $18.6 million.

Gateway had previously disclosed it intends to keep its desired level of holdings in Healthway to under 30 per cent of the firm.

Lippo made the offer to buy Gateway's holdings above its publicly disclosed level after an earlier offer on Friday for all the $60 million convertible notes owned by Gateway was declined.

The $15 million bonds are convertible into shares worth 13.86 per cent of the enlarged share capital of Healthway.

Lippo is also in the midst of a voluntary general offer for Gateway, and had accumulated 29.42 per cent of all shares in circulation through open market purchases as of Monday.

Hyflux

Hyflux has appointed DBS Bank and China International Capital Corp as financial advisers to evaluate its strategic options with respect to the partial divestment of the Tuaspring power plant, it announced last night.

The firm had said on Feb 23 it was seeking partial divestment of the plant subject to the relevant regulatory approvals, in line with its asset-light strategy. In the year ended Dec 31, losses from the Tuaspring plant due to a weak Singapore power market substantially wiped out Hyflux's profits from higher engineering, procurement and construction activities.

Raffles Medical Group

Raffles Medical Group has posted a 0.1 per cent rise in net profit to $15.5 million for its first quarter from the same period a year earlier.

Revenue for the three months to March 31 declined 1.7 per cent to $114.9 million, due partly to softer-than-expected demand from foreign patients. Despite the lower revenue, the group was able to contain costs and maintain profitability, it said.

Profitability was also affected by the lower Wage Credit of $700,000 against $1.9 million in the same period a year ago, it said. Excluding the credit received, the group's operating profit would have grown by 3.8 per cent.

The firm said demand for healthcare services may be affected by the Singapore and regional economic slowdown, and increased competition for foreign patients. But it expects the group to remain profitable this year.