Disruptions in the international health-care industry offer the best opportunity for investment, according to TPG Capital co-founder Jim Coulter.

You cant just bet on the economy, Coulter said today at the Bloomberg Year Ahead Summit in Washington. A disruption with cyclical downside protection is interesting.

TPG, which manages $66 billion in assets, is buying hospitals in China and India because of innovations in health-care services there, Coulter said. The Fort Worth, Texas-based firm is also investing in U.S. surgery centers, he said. TPGs recent investments in the industry, according to the firms website, include Evolent Health Inc., Genomic Health Inc., hospital operator Iasis Healthcare Corp. and Australian health-care provider Healthscope Ltd. (HSO), which held an initial public offering in July.

TPG is also seeking investments in young companies in whats known as the sharing economy, in which customers use mobile applications and Web tools for shared services, Coulter said. The firm last year bought a stake in passenger transport company Uber Technologies Inc. and this year invested in home-rental service Airbnb Inc. TPG co-founder David Bonderman is on the board of both companies.

Its a much better business model when you dont have the cost of physical assets, said Bonderman, who was on stage with Coulter. They achieve scale over the Internet very rapidly.

Bonderman, 71, and Coulter, 54, founded TPG in 1992. The firm is seeking $10 billion for its seventh buyout fund, according to an offering document obtained by Bloomberg News, after raising $19.8 billion in 2008 for its previous pool. TPG has told investors it plans to avoid mega-sized deals after experiencing losses in Texas utility Energy Future Holdings Corp., casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CZR) and savings bank Washington Mutual.

In smaller, technology-focused companies, valuations may at times run ahead of reality, but we should not underestimate the force of disruption thats going to occur, Coulter said today. For us as investors, we have to find the right entry point. Clearly the edge is pretty interesting right now in the sharing economy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Devin Banerjee in New York at dbanerjee2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net Josh Friedman, Pierre Paulden

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TPGs Coulter Says Global Health Care Is Best for Deals