UAE banks reveal exposure of Dh8bn to NMC Health

Lenders also on the hook for millions to founder BR Shetty's Finablr group

The demise of NMC was sparked by US short seller Muddy Waters. Bloomberg

UAE banks revealed a combined exposure of at least Dh8bn to NMC Health on Sunday, rising to Dh9.5bn when amounts also owed to founder BR Shetty’s Finablr group and its subsidiary UAE Exchange are added in.

Stockmarket-listed companies disclosed their exposure to the companies following the news that Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is looking to appoint administrators to NMC Health, which is the country’s biggest private healthcare operator.

ADCB declared that it has exposure to NMC Health worth $981 million (Dh3.6 billion), as well as $182m to Finablr and its subsidiaries.

“The combined liabilities of NMC Health Group and the Finablr Group to ADCB Group represent circa 1 per cent of ADCB Group’s total assets,” the lender said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

Dubai Islamic Bank said it is owed $425m by NMC Health, and that Noor Bank, which it acquired in January, is owed $116m. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank is owed $291.4m, and has a $31m investment in an NMC Health sukuk.

Dubai’s biggest lender, Emirates NBD, is owed Dh747.3 million – most of which is due to Emirates Islamic Bank. Commercial Bank International said it is owed Dh425.6m by the three companies, but did not give a breakdown as to where its exposure lay. National Bank of Fujairah is owed Dh289.1m by the three companies, but only Dh12.9m of this is owed by NMC Health. The healthcare giant also owes Dh151.9m to Ajman Bank, Dh135.3m to United Arab Bank and has Dh100.2m in working capital facilities with RAKBank.

ADCB said in a statement on Saturday it is looking to appoint administrators to “safeguard the future of NMC Health and its subsidiaries”, arguing that its requests for greater transparency had been ignored by the company.

NMC Health’s executive chairman Faisal Belhoul asked lenders on Sunday to agree to a standstill on its debts, arguing that putting it into administration would create “additional pressure on the group’s liquidity”.

NMC Health has debts of about $6.6bn, according to a recent filing, which it owes to a group of more than 80 local, regional and international lenders.

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A look back at our interview with BR Shetty from last year