PETALING JAYA: It is understood that Lembaga Tabung Haji and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) are expected to end up with a total of 45% equity stake in the newly-established Academic Medical Centre Sdn Bhd (AMC) that has a tie-up with world renowned Johns Hopkins Medicine International and Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) in Ireland to offer courses at the soon to be set up RM2bil Perdana University Graduate School.
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| Tan Sri Mohan Swami |
Tabung Haji is likely to end up with 30% stake while Mara 15% in AMC. The remaining 55% equity will be held jointly by two companies controlled by businessman Tan Sri Dr Mohan Swami (pic). The two companies are Turiya Bhd and Chase Perdana Sdn Bhd.
“The discussions with both Tabung Haji and Mara are still ongoing and we expect a deal to be hammered out by end of this month,'' said a source.
It was announced during Budget 2011 last year that two companies owned by Mohan would partner Johns Hopkins Medicine and RCSI in the RM2bil healthcare project in a public-private partnership. The Government will not take a direct equity interest in this project but it would be represented by its agencies.
“It is the Government's intention to take up to 45% stake in the venture, and it will be via some of its agencies,'' Mohan, who is the executive chairman of AMC told StarBiz. He, however, declined to elaborate further. He is also executive chairman of Turiya and Chase Perdana.
Tabung Haji and Mara will each have a board seat at AMC after the deal is sealed. The current board of AMC comprises Mohan, Datuk Halim@Ahmad Muhamat, Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said Keruak, and Datuk Dr Jeyaindran. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the advisor to the board.
“There is a lot of interest from other government agencies and also from local and foreign investment houses to take up equity stake in AMC. Most of the foreign investment houses that are keen on a stake are US-based. It is really up to the Government to identify which local agency would partner us in the venture,'' he added.
Asked if Turiya and Chase Perdana would reduce its AMC stake further from 55%, Mohan said: “We are not looking at reducing our stake in AMC ... Johns Hopkins is here because of my relationship with it. We have been working on this for a long time. In fact, it took us nearly 1 years to finalise the partnership.''
“This is also the first time a US program (in terms of a medical school) is coming here and naturally there has been a lot of interest in the project from other government agencies and investment houses,'' he added.
A site in Serdang has been identified for the two medical schools to be built, besides a 600-bed teaching hospital and a life science research centre. A joint-venture agreement between the local parties and Johns Hopkins was signed in November.
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and RSCI will offer programs at the Perdana University and also provide academic expertise for the programs.
“They (Johns Hopkins) are not in this partnership for profit and their arrival and participation cannot be equated in dollars and cents. They are more than a 100 years old in research and development, education and hospital services.
“They will only get consultancy fees for their staff and will be compensated for expenses and their intellectual property. It is not about making money, it is all about a shared vision of improving healthcare globally,'' Mohan said.
Johns Hopkins has already partnered Turiya via a stake in the US-based Amcare Labs International, which provides pathology and laboratory medicine services and operates medical testing facilities. Amcare is an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Medicine International and Johns Hopkins Medical Laboratories.
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