News: RHC UPDATE 1-Australia's Ramsay says received offers for healthcare JV

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Sept 15 (Reuters) - Australia's Ramsay Health Care (RHC) said on Friday it had received a number of non-binding indicative offers for its healthcare joint venture with Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby SIME.KL .

Australia's largest private hospital operator did not disclose the names of the bidders but said a select number of parties were doing due diligence, which was expected to conclude towards the end of October.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Australian investment bank Macquarie (MQG) and Malaysian hospital chain Columbia Asia were among the bidders for the unit.

Bloomberg had earlier reported that a unit of Kuala Lumpur- listed Sunway Bhd was also among the shortlisted bidders along with Columbia Asia and Macquarie.

Ramsay declined to comment on the names of the bidders when contacted by Reuters.

In June, both Ramsay and Sime Darby announced their plan to sell Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care (RSD) in a deal that could value the Asia-focused joint venture at 6 billion ringgit ($1.28 billion).

"If a sale proceeds, the funds received will be used to pay down drawn debt," Ramsay said, adding that there was no certainty that a sale process would result in a completed transaction.

The company expects to announce the outcome of the sale process before its annual general meeting on Nov. 28. ($1 = 4.6790 ringgit)