Amanat Holdings has unveiled its second healthcare investment of the past three weeks, with the acquisition of a Dh250 million stake in Abu Dhabi’s Al Noor Hospitals Group.
The Dubai-based investment company announced that it had acquired the 4.14 per cent stake in Al Noor – which is listed on the London Stock Exchange – from Deutsche Bank.
“Amanat has purchased through an off-market transaction from Deutsche Bank a stake in Al Noor … which equates to approximately 4.8 million shares,” said the Amanat chief executive Khaldoun Haj Hasan.
Deutsche Bank now holds a 1 per cent stake in Al Noor.
The deal comes a month after the Dubai-based private equity firm Ithmar Capital, of which Mr Haj Hasan is also a board director, tasked Deutsche Bank with selling its remaining 20 per cent stake in the Abu Dhabi-based hospitals group after selling off a 7.3 per cent stake in September.
While Ithmar Capital offloaded its remaining shares, the bank was left holding a 9.5 per cent stake in Al Noor, according to a LSE filing.
Ithmar Capital’s executive vice chairman, Faisal bin Juma Belhoul, also serves as the chairman of Amanat, an investment vehicle created last October for investing in education and health care in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Mr Belhoul had last year ruled out including Ithmar’s shares in Al Noor among Amanat’s assets.
He said in October that Amanat would spend US$476m acquiring stakes in up to six healthcare and education providers by the end of this year.
The Middle East and North Africa’s total healthcare spending is estimated to be US$125 billion this year, according to Al Masah Capital, a Dubai-based alternative-investment management firm.
Amanat earlier this month announced a sale and purchase agreement to acquire what it described as “a significant stake” in a healthcare provider in Saudi Arabia, giving no further details.
Amanat’s acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s shares in Al Noor comes a week after Bloomberg reported that the Abu Dhabi-based private equity group Centurion Investment was studying an IPO of Dubai’s CosmeSurge & Emirates Hospital Group.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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