SET-listed Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Plc (BDMS) aims to develop the newly acquired Swissotel Nai Lert Park as a world-class wellness centre that would attract high-end foreign and Thai patients.
The company's goal is to grab more than a 50% share of the Thai medical and health care segment, says a senior executive.
Chatree Duangnet, executive vice-president of BDMS, said the company will look for a construction company shortly to renovate the hotel to become a premium-grade health care facility.
"We selected this hotel to be developed as a wellness centre because of its perfect location in the heart of Bangkok and its beautiful garden with plenty of trees that should help improve the condition of patients," said Dr Chatree.
BDMS, Thailand's largest hospital operator under the Bangkok Hospital brand, is spending 10.8 billion baht to buy Nai Lert Park hotel to develop it into a holistic services medical centre with a 2-billion-baht investment.
The company filed a statement with the Stock Exchange of Thailand on Wednesday night that it entered into an agreement with Sanhapit and Bilaibhan Sombatsiri to acquire 15 rai of land and buildings in the Nai Lert Park project on Wireless Road.
For its investment plan as well as hospital expansion, BDMS wants to focus more on the location of acquisitions or construction sites to make patient access easy, such as with Nai Lert Park, said Dr Chatree.
"For this project, we will focus on high-end foreign patients, especially those who trust in our standards and fly directly to get medical care here," he said.
BDMS has 46 hospitals nationwide and the number is expected to rise to 50 next year as it has four hospitals under construction in Pattaya, Surat Thani, Chiang Rai and Khao Yai that are expected to start operation in 2017.
Total patient beds are expected to rise to 9,000 next year, up from 7,000, accounting for over half of the private hospital beds in Thailand, said Dr Chatree.
"We are now the market leader in Thailand, the second-biggest in Asia-Pacific and fourth-biggest in the world for hospital beds," he said.
With the rising capacity, the company expects to serve up to 25,000 patients per day, of which around 3,500 would be in-patients, said Dr Chatree.
Roughly 30% of its patients are Thai and 70% are foreigners.
BDMS set aside 11% of its annual revenue for expansion and investment in 2017, including mergers and acquisitions, he said.
The company's annual revenue was 65.2 billion baht in 2015 and the figure is expected to grow by 8-10% a year, said Dr Chatree. For the first six months this year it posted revenue of 33.7 billion.
BDMS shares closed yesterday on the SET at 22.50 baht, up 10 satang, in trade worth 706 million baht.