Al Noor medical drama ends with a win for the patient



So the UAE will not have its first ever contested takeover bid after all. VPS Healthcare has decided not to pursue an offer for London-listed Al Noor Hospitals, just a couple of weeks after NMC Health similarly pulled out of the US$2.2 billion contest.

That’s a shame for us financial journalists who savour the cut and thrust of a hostile bid situation, and also for the investment banking and other advisers who stood to clock up some chunky fees in the event of a protected and labour-intensive bid battle.

Whether it is a good thing for the UAE health industry remains to be seen. You might argue that for one of the country’s biggest hospitals businesses to fall under foreign ownership – assuming the bid by South African-owned Mediclinic goes through – is not in the best interests of the country.

That conclusion, however, would ignore the fact that Mediclinic – the only bidder left standing with an offer agreed by the Al Noor board and accepted by two of its biggest shareholders – is already a big name on the UAE health scene and has made a very positive contribution to the growth of the industry here.

You could also argue, more controversially, that both NMC and Al Noor ceased to be UAE-owned companies when they chose the London Stock Exchange, rather than UAE markets, for their IPOs a couple of years back. But that is all water under the bridge now.

For both VPS and NMC, the deal-breaker was financial. A minimum $2.2bn is a big chunk of change for both, and would have required calls to shareholders and banks to finance any offer.

Given the fact that Mediclinic had shrewdly tied up irrevocable acceptance from 34 per cent of Al Noor shareholders in advance, the contenders baulked at the cost of persuading them to change their minds in the decidedly fragile financial and equity markets of today.

The call by VPS is the more notable in this respect. Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, founder and managing director of the business, was probably speaking from the heart when he said he would “definitely” be making an offer for Al Noor a couple of weeks ago.

With his access to the multibillions of the Indian business community, he probably thought the financing would have been a cinch to create a regional healthcare champion.

But when the shrewder head of Deutsche Bank – the healthcare valuation experts in the UAE – came into play, he was talked down from a bid. That tells us quite a lot about the investment bank professionals’ view of the financial world at the moment. The days of gung-ho adventurism are over, at least for the time being, even for apparently unique opportunities.

Is Al Noor so unique? Some advisers were talking of the potential of creating a rival “national champion” in the shape of a merger between VPS and NMC, and that might still be a possibility under consideration in some investment banking circles.

But it looks like a long shot. A tie-up would have to be by mutual consent because NMC is controlled by its founder Dr B R Shetty and his long-time ally and patron Saeed bin Butti. It seems unlikely that they would be interested in such a combination.

Some have suggested VPS is interested in NMC’s London listing, but it would surely be cheaper to make its own plans for that rather than paying more than $2bn for NMC.

VPS, from being a relatively little known organisation a few weeks ago (despite its big presence and ownership of the Burjeel flagship hospitals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi), has now well and truly arrived and is determined to win more market share in the region.

NMC continues to be expansionist, as the $190 million purchase of Fakih IVF proves, but will focus on the basics in the future.

It will benefit from the roll-out of mandatory health care in Dubai, as well as in Sharjah, the next emirate expected to extend health insurance provisions; it will focus on speciality sectors (like fertility) rather than the big “one stop shop” hospitals; and it is planning a strategic entry into Saudi Arabia’s long-term care market.

Perhaps the enduring lesson of the short-lived takeover frenzy is that the regional hospitals industry is in rude health, with the right demographics and government policies being exploited by smart businessmen.

fkane@thenational.ae

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Company%20Profile
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The Ashes

Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs

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Moon Music

Artist: Coldplay

Label: Parlophone/Atlantic

Number of tracks: 10

Rating: 3/5

Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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if you go

The flights 

Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning. 

The trains

Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.

The hotels

Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.

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You Were Never Really Here

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Starring: Joaquim Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov

Four stars

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EMILY%20IN%20PARIS%3A%20SEASON%203
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RESULT

Bayern Munich 5 Eintrracht Frankfurt 2
Bayern:
 Goretzka (17'), Müller (41'), Lewandowski (46'), Davies (61'), Hinteregger (74' og)    
Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')

BORDERLANDS

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis

Director: Eli Roth

Rating: 0/5

Profile

Company: Justmop.com

Date started: December 2015

Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan

Sector: Technology and home services

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month

Funding:  The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher:  Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5

APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)

Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits

Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine

Storage: 128/256/512GB

Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4

Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps

Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID

Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight

In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter

Price: From Dh2,099

The specs

Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo

Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm

Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Price: from Dh498,542

On sale: now

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5

Company profile

Name: Fruitful Day

Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie

Based: Dubai, UAE

Founded: 2015

Number of employees: 30

Sector: F&B

Funding so far: Dh3 million

Future funding plans: None at present

Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries

Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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The%20specs
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THE SPECS

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

Engine: 6.0-litre V12

Transmission: Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic

Power: 595bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh999,563

COMPANY PROFILE

Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

Maestro
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The%20specs
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The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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THE BIG THREE

NOVAK DJOKOVIC
19 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 5 (2011, 14, 15, 18, 19)
French Open: 2 (2016, 21)
US Open: 3 (2011, 15, 18)
Australian Open: 9 (2008, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21)
Prize money: $150m

ROGER FEDERER
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 8 (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 17)
French Open: 1 (2009)
US Open: 5 (2004, 05, 06, 07, 08)
Australian Open: 6 (2004, 06, 07, 10, 17, 18)
Prize money: $130m

RAFAEL NADAL
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 2 (2008, 10)
French Open: 13 (2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)
US Open: 4 (2010, 13, 17, 19)
Australian Open: 1 (2009)
Prize money: $125m

SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

Company%20profile
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Rebel%20Moon%20%E2%80%93%20Part%20Two%3A%20The%20Scargiver%20review%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zack%20Snyder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sofia%20Boutella%2C%20Charlie%20Hunnam%2C%20Ed%20Skrein%2C%20Sir%20Anthony%20Hopkins%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tree of Hell

Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla

Director: Raed Zeno

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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EA Sports FC 25

Florida: The critical Sunshine State

Though mostly conservative, Florida is usually always “close” in presidential elections. In most elections, the candidate that wins the Sunshine State almost always wins the election, as evidenced in 2016 when Trump took Florida, a state which has not had a democratic governor since 1991. 

Joe Biden’s campaign has spent $100 million there to turn things around, understandable given the state’s crucial 29 electoral votes.

In 2016, Mr Trump’s democratic rival Hillary Clinton paid frequent visits to Florida though analysts concluded that she failed to appeal towards middle-class voters, whom Barack Obama won over in the previous election.

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The 100 Best Novels in Translation
Boyd Tonkin, Galileo Press

TRAP

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Rating: 3/5

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SERIE A FIXTURES

Saturday Benevento v Atalanta (2pm), Genoa v Bologna (5pm), AC Milan v Torino (7.45pm)

Sunday Roma v Inter Milan (3.30pm), Udinese v Napoli, Hellas Verona v Crotone, Parma v Lazio (2pm), Fiorentina v Cagliari (9pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (11.45pm)

Monday Spezia v Sampdoria (11.45pm)