Life Healthcare to launch IPO within 9 months

South African private hospitals group Life Healthcare plans to launch an initial public offering on the Johannesburg bourse within nine months, it said on Monday.

Management-controlled Life Healthcare, in which Mvelaphanda Group and Brimstone each holds 22%, said the listing would depend on market conditions.

"Following a strategic review between the company's board and its advisers, the preferred route is to list the company on the JSE Limited within nine months subject to market conditions," the company said.

Investment banks Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Rand Merchant Bank are advising the black economic empowered company, spokesman Nicholas Williams told Reuters.

Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are working on a listing, the people familiar with the matter told Reuters last month, while one of them said South Africa's Nedbank was also working on the deal.

The step towards an initial public offering (IPO) comes as private investors prepare to sell or list a string of medical technology and healthcare services companies, including Ambea in Sweden, BSN Medical in Germany, and Netcare's General Healthcare Group (GHG) in Britain.

At the end of June, Mvela gave its stake an "intrinsic net asset value" of 1.626 billion rand ($220.2 million). Using the same technique would imply a value for the whole company of about $950 million.

Life Healthcare, which operates 55 acute care facilities with over 7,600 beds, competes with listed rivals Medi-Clinic and Netcare but comparisons are made harder because they have more international operations.