Amanat buys property assets of Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centre in $12.5m deal

The company's social infrastructure platform is seeking more strategic real estate investments

The health care and education investment specialist Amanat has acquired real estate assets of Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centre in Abu Dhabi. Courtesy Amanat

Amanat Holdings, the Dubai-listed company that specialises in healthcare and education sector investments across the GCC, has acquired real estate assets of Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centre in Abu Dhabi as it continues to expand its portfolio of investments.

The Dh46 million ($12.53m) deal, made through Amanat’s social infrastructure platform, is the first healthcare sector real estate investment for the company, Amanat said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.

The transaction will further diversify the company's exposure across the healthcare and education sectors.

“We are assessing a series of opportunities to support us in delivering solid and sustainable returns to our shareholders by investing in the real estate of our leading assets,” Mohamad Hamade, chief executive of Amanat, said.

Amanat plans to further invest in developing its portfolio of companies by either owning the underlying real estate assets or investing in technology.

“I believe this is another step in the right direction to optimising our portfolio and delivering sustainable shareholder returns,” he said.

Amanat acquired Cambridge Medical for $232m in one of the region's biggest healthcare sector deals in March this year.

It bought the CMRC from TVM Capital Healthcare, a private equity company and funded the transaction through a Dh405m bank loan and cash, it said in a statement to the DFM at the time.

“With this transaction, Amanat has fully [used] its paid-up capital of Dh2.5 billion and now manages close to Dh3bn in assets,” its chairman Hamad Al Shamsi said in March.

CMRC, a specialist provider of post-acute care and rehabilitation services, has three units with a capacity of more than 250 beds in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. It posted a net profit of $15.2m last year on revenue of $75.3m.

CMRC’s real estate assets includes about 6,000 square metres of land with two three-storey buildings that house inpatient and outpatient facilities and three gyms, the company said on Sunday.

Amanat’s social infrastructure platform will help the company to build a “sizeable and diversified portfolio of real estate assets with a sustainable and resilient yield”, the company said.

“Our social infrastructure platform will target strategic real estate acquisitions with attractive yields to promote stable landlord and tenant relationships in the future,” Mr Hamade said.

“This transaction marks one of many future opportunities in this space.”

Amanat swung to a net profit in the second quarter on the back of a recovery in its healthcare assets, streamlining of costs and a gain from the sale of UAE education provider Taaleem.

Its net income for three months to the end of June climbed to Dh203.8m, compared to a loss of Dh5.1m in the same quarter of 2020, the company said in a statement in August.