SAO PAULO (REUTERS) – Rede D’or, Brazil’s biggest hospital chain, was valued at 112.5 billion reais (S$29.4 billion) in an initial public offering priced on Tuesday (Dec 8), sources told Reuters and the company confirmed in a securities filing, placing it among Brazil’s 10 biggest companies by market capitalisation.

Both the company and its shareholders, which include Carlyle Group and Singapore state investor GIC and its founder’s family, raised 11.4 billion reais in the offering, in the biggest IPO by a Brazilian company since 2013.

The hospital chain plans to use the proceeds – roughly 8.4 billion reais – to build hospitals and acquire businesses, such as health insurance brokers and hospitals.

Rede D’or, with 51 hospitals in Brazil, was founded in 1977 by Jorge Moll Filho as a laboratory. The company is still controlled by the Moll family.

Rede D’or’s successful IPO comes despite a hit to its business by the pandemic, which has reduced elective medical care.

It reported revenue of 9.8 billion reais in the first nine months of 2020, in line with the same period a year earlier, but net income plunged more than 80% to 156.5 million reais.

Both GIC and Carlyle sold a small portion of their stake in Rede D’Or, reducing it to 34% from 37.8%.

Still, the valuation reached by Rede D’Or puts it as Carlyle’s most profitable deal in Brazil so far, one source said. It acquired a stake in the hospital chain in 2015, when it was valued at roughly 20 billion reais.

Shares of Rede D’or will debut on the Sao Paulo stock exchange on Wednesday.