Daily Briefing: Japan's Concordia Financial Group to expand in Singapore; Grab bags investment from Experian

And private equity firm EQT backs Health Management International's privatisation offer.

From Bloomberg:

Concordia Financial Group, Japan’s second largest regional bank by assets, aims to set up a branch in Singapore as a transaction banking hub for Japanese corporate clients operating in Southeast Asia.

This will mark as its first overseas expansion in 20 years after Japan’s financial crisis forced it to retreat.

Concordia plans to expand in Asia to offer cash management services to its Japanese corporate clients and infrastructure loans to local entities, President Kenichi Kawamura said. About 1,500 of Concordia’s corporate clients do business in Southeast Asia and India.

It aims to hire specialists and double overseas loans to more than $5b (400b yen or US$3.7b) in three years, Kawamura said.

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From DealStreetAsia:

Grab on Friday announced a new investment from consumer credit giant Experian as part of its ongoing series H funding round, a week after a $408m (US$300m) financing by US-based investment manager Invesco.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed. In a statement, Experian said that both companies “seek to improve access to mobility-enabled solutions and financial services for underbanked consumers in Southeast Asia.”

Grab has earlier said that it aims to raise $8.8b (US$6.5b) for the series H round, which is expected to close by the end of this year. The round has seen more than $6.12b (US$4.5b) capital injected, including a whopping $1.99b (US$1.46b) funding by Japanese business magnate Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Vision Fund.

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From DealStreetAsia:

The management of SGX Mainboard-listed Health Management International (HMI) and private equity firm EQT have offered to take the healthcare provider private in a deal that values it at $611m (US$449m).

HMI Group owns two tertiary hospitals in Malaysia, as well as a one-stop ambulatory care centre and healthcare training centre in Singapore.

EQT is backing the offer through PanAsia Health Limited, a special purpose vehicle indirectly controlled by EQT Mid Market Asia III GP.

Under the scheme of arrangement, HMI shareholders can either accept a cash consideration of $0.73 per share or receive new shares in PanAsia, issued at $0.73. The offer price represents a 24.8% premium over the volume weighted average price (VWAP) of HMI shares over the last one month.

Read more here.