ALBAWABA – The Middle East’s biggest health-care platform, Abu Dhabi’s PureHealth, is expected to start trading in December, pending regulatory approval, according to an official statement on Monday, reported by Bloomberg.
PureHealth Holding PJSC is controlled by one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds and is its largest conglomerate, as pre Bloomberg.
Wealth fund ADQ and International Holding Co., both overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the brother of the UAE’s ruler, have been working on a listing for years.
As part of the plans, several companies including Abu Dhabi Health Services Co., known as SEHA, and National Health Insurance Co., known as Daman, were merged into PureHealth by ADQ in January 2022. The firm now operates over 25 hospitals and 100 clinics, Bloomberg reported.
This is one of various Emirati efforts to expand businesses across various sectors.
For example, Abu Dhabi’s $48 billion telecom firm e& is pursuing an ambitious expansion strategy after becoming Vodafone Group Plc’s biggest shareholder. It was mandated by the government to seek opportunistic deals, Bloomberg News has reported.
PureHealth has also expanded through acquisitions, including a $1.2 billion (AED4.41 billion) deal to buy one of the UK’s largest independent hospital operators from Centene Corp. It also bought a minority stake in US health-care provider Ardent Health Services for $490 million (AED1.8 billion) in May.
Cryptocurrency mining hardware retailer Phoenix Group Plc is also planning to go public in Abu Dhabi in a $371 million deal, according to Bloomberg. On Monday, Dubai Taxi Co. started taking investor orders for its share sale that could raise as much as $315 million.
The Dubai Taxi IPO is the first public listing to involve government-owned stakes in 2023 in the city. The Government of Dubai is trying to keep up with the tide of IPOs sweeping through the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, with Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in the lead.
