Amanat creates largest pan-GCC post-acute care platform

Company has merged Sukoon International Holding with Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centre through a non-cash share swap

Listed on the DFM since 2014, Amanat’s paid-up capital is nearly Dh2.5 billion. Photo: Amanat

Amanat Holdings, a Dubai-based education and healthcare investment company, on Monday announced the creation of the largest pan-GCC post-acute care platform, following the merger of Sukoon International Holding Company with Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centre (CMRC) through a non-cash share swap.

As per the agreement, the Sukoon shareholders will receive about 15 per cent of Amanat’s shares in CMRC in return for Amanat receiving additional shares in Sukoon. Amanat will own about 85 per cent of the post-merger entity.

The company has obtained approval from the General Authority for Competition, Saudi Arabia, for the transaction, that is subjected to other regulatory approvals and transaction closing, it said in a statement on the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

With the latest announcement, Amanat is positioned to take advantage of the estimated 24,000 post-acute care bed gap across Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the next four years, Amanat chairman Hamad Alshamsi said.

“At the acquisition of CMRC we set out an ambitious strategy to expand to c. [about] 1,000 pan-regional beds within three years and with today’s announcement we are delivering on this ambition.

“Post-merger, the platform will operate c. 400 beds in the UAE and Saudi Arabia across four cities [Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dhahran and Jeddah] with a 300-bed expansion under way, primarily in Saudi Arabia and further expansion plans in the pipeline.”

Listed on the DFM since 2014, Amanat’s paid-up capital is nearly Dh2.5 billion ($680 million). Its mandate is to establish, acquire and integrate companies in the healthcare and education sectors, and develop, manage and operate these companies within the Middle East and North Africa region and beyond.

CMRC, which Amanat acquired for $232 million in one of the region's biggest healthcare deals last year, is a leading post-acute care and rehabilitation provider in the UAE and Saudi Arabia — the Arab world’s biggest economies.

Sukoon, a closed joint-stock company founded in 2007, provides extended care and critical care medical services to patients who are no longer suited for care within a traditional hospital setting. It has an operational 130-bed capacity in Jeddah.

The merger of Sukoon with CMRC is part of Amanat’s active portfolio management strategy that “realises shareholder value, firstly by positioning Amanat in rapidly expanding specialist sectors and secondly by delivering significant cost synergies, both key value-generation pillars in our platform strategy”, said Mohamad Hamade, chief executive of Amanat.

“Furthermore, this subsector of health care relieves public healthcare systems by improving efficiency through unblocking intensive care unit beds that are currently being used for long-term care services provided by general hospitals,” he said.