Singapore health maintenance organization Fullerton Health enters Philippine market

MANILA, Philippines — The Insurance Commission (IC) has given Fullerton Health Philippines Pte. Ltd. the go-signal to acquire two health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the country, signalling the entry of the Singapore-based firm into the local industry.

In a statement, Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa said the IC has approved Fullerton Health’s plan to purchase 60 percent of Asalus Corp. and Avega Managed Care Inc.’s common shares.

“The separate share purchase agreements wherein Fullerton Health acquired 60 percent of the issued and outstanding capital shares in Asalus and Avega have been approved by the Insurance Commission under the Guidelines on the Approval of Acquisition of Control of Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO),” Funa said.

Following this development, Funa welcomed the entry of Fullerton Health in the Philippine HMO industry, saying its presence would improve the quality of managed healthcare services in the country.

“As one of the recognized leaders in healthcare services in the Asia Pacific region and considering its extensive resources and experience in managed healthcare and third-party administration, we expect the entry of Fullerton Healthcare would further enhance the managed healthcare services in the country,” Funa said.

Fullerton Health is a Singaporean firm which engages principally in the provision of enterprise healthcare services and specialty service. Its parent company is Fullerton Healthcare Corp. Ltd., a healthcare solutions provider based in the Cayman Islands.

Asalus Corp. and Avega, for their part, are a duly licensed HMO in the Philippines. Asalus is operating under the trade name of Intellicare.

Michael Tan Kim Song, Fullerton Health co-founder and group chief executive officer, said the company decided to expand in the Philippines as it sees opportunities for growth in this market.

“The Philippines offers great growth potential for the company, and the potential synergies between our two businesses, together with our operational and technological capabilities, will allow us to deliver increased benefits and services to even more corporates and patients across the country. This acquisition reinforces our strategy of developing strong presence in markets across the region,” he said.

Mario Silos, chairman and president of the Intellicare Group, said the investment of Fullerton Health as its majority shareholder would enable the company to expand its services.

“It will enable us to tap into their extensive network and wealth of experiences across Asia Pacific to ensure that we are delivering the most sophisticated care possible to corporates and patients throughout the Philippines,” Silos said.

Under the business plan submitted by Fullerton Health, the existing management team of Asalus and Avega will continue to perform the core operations in the Philippines, with support from the Fullerton executive team.