Seattle Investment Firm Blazes New Trails in India Healthcare Market

SEATTLE--(Business Wire)--
Columbia Pacific, a Seattle-based investment and money manager,
announces the close of a $135M second round of financing for its Asian
hospital entity, Columbia Asia. This brings the total equity raised
for Columbia Asia to $325M.

Columbia Asia, which opened its first hospital in Malaysia in
1994, currently operates 13 medical facilities, will have 14 more
under construction by this fall and owns the property for another 12.
Upon completion Columbia Asia will have 21 hospitals and an airport
clinic in India, 11 hospitals in Malaysia, three hospitals in Vietnam
and three hospitals in Indonesia, together representing an investment
of over $600M.

The Asian operations are headed by Seattle natives Rick Evans and
Matt Powell. Evans, who graduated from University of Washington and UW
School of Business, is the company's Chairman. Powell, also a UW
graduate, is the company's Managing Director.

While the firm has a strong presence throughout Asia, the majority
of the company's growth will be in India. In fact, Columbia Asia is
the first American firm to enter the emerging Indian healthcare market
in such a dramatic way.

To stand out in the booming healthcare market, the company offers
a unique design: full-service hospitals built in residential areas.

"Our business model is based on providing affordable medical care
to the underserved middle-income group in India," Rick Evans said.
"After nearly a decade of experience in Asia, we know that
sophisticated hospitals built in neighborhoods, rather than the
central city, are the best way to serve patients."

At Columbia Asia facilities, patients are met with highly trained
and culturally sensitive staff, advanced technology and the full range
of hospital services. With efficient administration and fewer beds,
the hospitals have an average patient stay of just two days, which
keeps costs down.

In India, the site of most of the company's current and future
growth, the $34 billion private healthcare market is growing by 16
percent a year, and the number of hospital beds and physicians across
the country is expected to double by 2015, according to Ernst & Young
and McKinsey.

The middle-income group in India is projected to grow from 50
million people to a staggering 583 million people by 2025, as citizens
pull themselves out of poverty, according to BusinessWeek. This will
fuel a massive demand for healthcare, especially as the rate of
"lifestyle" diseases common to the middle- and upper-income groups,
such as obesity and diabetes, also rises.

"It only took a year for our first hospital in India, in the
Hebbal District of Bangalore, to operate at full capacity," Evans
said.

Columbia Pacific manages two investment funds, the $300M Columbia
Asia fund and the $200M Columbia Pacific Opportunity Fund. The
Opportunity Fund, headed by Alex Washburn, focuses on a diversified
portfolio. The investing group is made up primarily of Northwest
individuals and families, with the Seattle-based Baty family as the
principal investor in both funds.

For more information about Columbia Asia hospitals, go to
www.columbiaasia.com.

Pacific Public Affairs
Jim Kneeland, Seattle, 206-682-5066

Copyright Business Wire 2008