Amanat Holdings to buy 35% stake in Saudi healthcare firm

Amanat Holdings, an education and healthcare company, is acquiring a 35 per cent stake in Sukoon International, a Saudi Arabian healthcare company.

Amanat, which has posted first-half net profit of Dh1.6 million, said its board had approved a 200 million Saudi riyal (Dh195.8m) investment in Sukoon International via a subsidiary that it did not disclose.

Founded in 2007, Sukoon International, a closed joint stock company, is a hospice care provider.

Its flagship is a 200-bed facility in Jeddah, which operates at about 75 per cent of its capacity.

Amanat, which listed in Dubai last November, posted a net profit of Dh1.47m for the first quarter.

It has been acquiring healthcare assets across the region. In May, Amanat invested Dh250m for a 4.14 per cent stake in Abu Dhabi-based Al Noor Hospitals Group.

Amanat was the first healthcare and education company to raise funds via a regional IPO. Other healthcare companies have raised funds on the London Stock Exchange.

Faisal bin Juma Belhoul, Amanat’s chairman, said 70 per cent of his company’s funds would be used to invest in healthcare and education companies, aiming to identify up to six investment targets within the next two years.

About 25 per cent of Amanat’s funds will be invested in real estate infrastructure associated with the projects, and 5 per cent in joint ventures with leading healthcare and education firms.

According to Alpen Capital, a financial services advisory firm, the GCC healthcare market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 12 per cent to US$69.4 billion by 2018, from $39.4bn in 2013.

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