PwC: Hospitals are becoming new focus of M

Mergers and acquisitions in China's hospital sector became a new focus in 2015, and large-scale deals and more cross-border transactions will likely be made in the near future, said a report by global auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers on Thursday.

There were 48 mergers and acquisitions of Chinese hospitals last year, of which 27 were general hospitals and their disclosed investment amount totaled 3.98 billion yuan ($612.1 million). In contrast, the disclosed value for specialized hospitals fell sharply in 2015 compared to 2014.

Leon Qian, PwC northern China transaction services & healthcare industry leader, said investors were previously attracted to specialized hospitals, especially dental, obstetric and paediatric hospitals, as they had low risk and could be easily replicated and enlarged to generate profits.