More centers for iKang health group

Chinese healthcare checkup service provider iKang Healthcare Group will build more medical centers for the Chinese market after listing on the Nasdaq stock market, according to the company's chairman.

"About 70 percent of the funds raised from the stock market will be used to set up new medical centers," said Zhang Ligang, chairman of the healthcare group, on Wednesday.

The company plans to finance about $153 million in the US market.

It also had a private placement of $40 million with China Investment Co at the initial public offering price.

Zhang said the firm will not only be a traditional healthcare service company, but also use the latest technology for businesses, such as mobile healthcare and long-term health condition tracing.

The company owned 45 centers in 15 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, as of March 25.

It went public on Wednesday with an IPO price of $14 per ADS (American Depository Shares) and the closing price on the first day reached $15.20 per ADS.

Revenue for iKang Healthcare in the first nine months of the 2013 financial year was $173 million, up by 49.6 percent year-on-year. Profits were $27.9 million, an increase of 41.3 percent year -on-year.

The company accounted for about 12.3 percent of China's health-check market in terms of revenue in 2013, according to research company Frost & Sullivan.

China's three biggest private healthcare service providers — iKang, Ciming Health Checkup Management Group and Meinian Onehealth Healthcare (Group) Co — have attracted significant amounts of investment in recent years.