Maybank

Kuala Lumpur, 24 March 2023 – Sunway Healthcare Group (SHG) has successfully established its Sustainability Financing Framework (“the Framework”), marking a significant milestone for the leading healthcare provider’s sustainability journey.

With the Framework in place, SHG will be able to issue Sustainability Sukuk under the RM5.0 billion Sukuk Wakalah Programme by its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sunway Healthcare Treasury Sdn Bhd, to finance eligible projects. These include opening new hospitals across Malaysia to give more communities access to high-quality healthcare.

Maybank Investment Bank (Maybank IB) acted as the sole sustainability structuring adviser for the establishment of the Framework as well as sole principal adviser, lead arranger and lead manager for the Sukuk Wakalah Programme.

Dato’ Lau Beng Long, President of Sunway Healthcare Group, said, “Sustainability sits at the core
of Sunway’s DNA and the healthcare division works towards supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), especially in the areas of quality healthcare, community outreach, talent diversity and green efforts. SHG pushes the frontiers of clinical excellence and technological capability to support the healthcare goals of the nation and to raise the standards of healthcare in the ASEAN region.”

Dato' Fad'l Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer, Maybank Investment Bank, said, “With ESG requirements becoming entrenched by regulators and investors alike, companies with strong foundations and clear roadmaps will be well positioned to tap into the capital markets. As a key partner bank to the Sunway Group, we are honoured to support SHG’s sustainability ambitions with our expertise in sustainable finance. This milestone is another testament to our commitment to the Group, having acted as sole financial advisor for SHG’s strategic sale of a 16 per cent stake to GIC Pte Ltd in 2021.”

SHG’s Sustainability Financing Framework was accorded the highest rating of “Gold” in the Impact Bond Assessment by Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC). As independent external reviewer, MARC assessed the impact of the Use of Proceeds towards projects falling under four categories: access to essential and latest technology in healthcare services, green buildings, energy efficiency and renewable energy. The impact was deemed to be significant, with clear social and environmental benefits that directly support nine of the 17 UN SDGs.

The Framework is also in compliance with the Securities Commission Malaysia’s Sustainability and Responsibility Investment Sukuk Framework, the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum’s Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Standards, the International Capital Markets Association’s Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Principles, and the Loan Market Association’s Green and Social Loan Principles.

SHG is an integrated private healthcare provider that operates a network of hospitals and ancillary services such as ambulatory care centres, home healthcare and traditional and complementary medicine centres. SHG opened Sunway Medical Centre Velocity, its second tertiary hospital, in September 2019 and Sunway Medical Centre Penang in November 2022, in response to the success of Sunway Medical Centre (SMC) in Sunway City.

SHG plans to expand with hospitals in Sunway Kota Damansara (Selangor), Iskandar Puteri (Johor), Ipoh (Perak), Kota Bahru (Kelantan) and Paya Terubong (Penang). As a result of this growth, SHG will become one of the largest healthcare organisations in Malaysia with a total bed capacity of more than 3,000 across its network of hospitals.