Background

Hong Duc General Hospital, a family owned private Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, is one of the most trusted healthcare providers in Vietnam. Since its establishment, Hong Duc had built a strong reputation attracting the best doctors and delivering quality patient care.

Hong Duc had an ambitious expansion plan to open Hong Duc General Hospital II, a new facility scheduled for early 2020 to cope with increasing patient demands. The new hospital would provide high-quality general healthcare services with specialized focus on cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, and pediatrics, representing a significant opportunity for medical equipment suppliers in Vietnam's largest commercial center.

The Challenge

Hong Duc faced several critical obstacles that were preventing it from achieving its ambitious expansion plan:

• Competitive Market Dynamics: Vietnam's private healthcare market was highly competitive, with hospitals seeking partners who could provide not just equipment, but comprehensive solutions including financing, training, and ongoing support services. Furthermore, the Vietnamese government was actively encouraging private hospital investment through various incentives including land allocation and heavily subsidized construction loans at favorable interest rates. These market dynamics created an environment of specific and demanding expectations from Health Technology providers like Philips HealthTech.

• ‍Capital Investment Constraints: Private hospitals like Hong Duc required access to advanced medical equipment technology to compete for Vietnam's best medical professionals and establish market differentiation, but lacked sufficient upfront capital for comprehensive equipment purchases. The customer needed a financing solution that would enable them to establish a "smart hospital" with the best technology from day 1.

• ‍Working Capital Preservation Requirements: In addition to Hong Duc's capital expenditure requirement, they required funds for operational needs.

The Solution

Philips Capital's Smart Export Financing Approach

Working at Philips Capital, Xander Vissering developed together with the Philips HealthTech sales team a comprehensive export financing solution that addressed the customer's strategic objectives:

• ‍Smart Hospital Technology Integration: The long-term financing solution enabled Philips HealthTech to position a comprehensive "smart hospital" package including:
  
  • Advanced image-guided therapy platform for hybrid operating rooms supporting complex interventional procedures
  • Digital 3.0T MRI with High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound capabilities for non-invasive treatments
  • High-resolution, low-dose CT scanning technology
  • Connected patient monitoring and integrated analytics solutions

• ‍Comprehensive Partnership Framework: the team facilitated a strategic partnership that positioned Philips as Hong Duc's trusted technology partner, including:
  
  • Design services to optimize workflows and enhance staff and patient experience
  • Comprehensive training programs to strengthen clinical capabilities
  • Ongoing technology support and maintenance services ensuring consistent performance and maximizing uptime

‍Smart Export Financing backed by the Dutch Government

Xander structured an export financing solution backed by Atradius Dutch State Business - an Export Credit Agency representing the Dutch Government - that:

• Provided Competitive Financing Terms: These financing terms were aligned with customer's high expectations shaped by Vietnam's healthcare market dynamics

• Avoided Underinvestment in the Right Technology: The financing structure enabled Hong Duc to acquire a comprehensive integrated technology package from day 1, rather than purchasing basic equipment initially and upgrading gradually over time

• Enabled a Turnkey Project, whilst Maintaining Liquidity: a seven-year extended payment term allowed Hong Duc to acquire a fully integrated digital healthcare technology solution while maintaining liquidity for its ongoing operations

At the same time, this deal structure allowed Philips to preserve its cash flow after equipment handover by offloading the extended payment term to a 3rd party financial institution, effectively functioning as accounts receivable forfaiting on a limited recourse basis.

Results

Our partnership led to the following successes:

• Established Market Leadership: We successfully positioned Hong Duc General Hospital II as Vietnam's leading "smart hospital" without concessions on the health technology set-up where medical experts and doctors make confident clinical decisions

• Enabled Customer Success: Our cutting-edge medical technology successfully positioned Hong Duc to attract top medical professionals with advanced equipment and international-standard working environments, allowing Hong Duc to deliver on its commitment to provide the best quality patient care services with the most advanced medical equipment‍

• Preserved Liquidity for Both Parties: Our smart financing structure enabled Hong Duc to maintain liquidity for ongoing operations and at the same time allowed us to preserve cash flow after equipment handover

• Created our Competitive Advantage: Our technology solution approach combined with export financing successfully enabled us to penetrate Vietnam's demanding private healthcare sector

Client Testimonial

"The private hospital market was strategically important to our growth ambition for Philips HealthTech in Vietnam. Xander Vissering structured an export financing solution that became a cornerstone of our success in this fast-growing market segment. By understanding the differences between public (tender-based) and private sector (long-term partnerships) and listening to the often locally specific needs of customers, he developed tailored solutions that resonated in the Vietnamese market. Through this approach, he significantly contributed to our success in leading this market segment and accelerating the healthcare industry as a whole."‍

— Hugo Luik, Former Managing Director, Philips Vietnam

Conclusion

This case study demonstrates how smart export financing can transform market access in emerging economies. By understanding customer strategic objectives and structuring a financing solution aligned with local market dynamics, the Hong Duc partnership created a replicable model for healthcare technology solutions in the Vietnamese market.

The multi-stakeholder approach—combining advanced technology, comprehensive services, and smart financing structures—illustrates how export financing solutions can unlock market potential that traditional sales approaches cannot address.

As the founder of Orange Capital Solutions, Xander Vissering now brings this proven expertise in export financing and smart deal structuring to Dutch exporters seeking to accelerate international growth while preserving cash flow for ongoing operations and other growth initiatives. His experience demonstrates how smart financing solutions can transform customer requirements into a competitive advantage for exporters.

‍Ready to explore export financing for your international projects?

Contact Orange Capital Solutions to discover how customized export financing solutions can help you capitalize on favorable market opportunities while preserving working capital for business expansion. Our proven expertise in export financing can transform customer financing constraints into competitive advantages for Dutch exporters expanding into emerging markets worldwide.

‍Contact us at info@orangecapital.solutions to schedule your export financing consultation.