December 2016 Didn’t Deliver a Year-End Boost

The final month of the fourth quarter is typically a busy one for deal makers in all industries. Last year, some health care deal makers apparently got a rest. Deal volume in December 2016 was an anemic 119 transactions, compared with 131 deals in November and 148 in December 2015. The Services sectors accounted for 55% of the deals in December, which is on the low side. Consider that, in November, Services accounted for 69% of the month’s transactions, and even 70% of the total in December 2015. Spending on those deals reached $15.4 billion, a relatively modest amount until it is compared with November’s $8.7 billion total (+78%) and December 2015’s $12.3 billion total (+26%). Suddenly,... Read More »

The Hospital Market in the UAE Heats Up

Healthcare deals, particularly for hospitals, are heating up in the United Arab Emirates. On December 14, NMC Health, the country’s largest private healthcare company, announced its acquisition of Al Zahra Hospital in Sharja. Al Zahra is one of the largest private hospitals in the UAE, operating 137 active inpatient beds. It serves approximately 400,000 outpatients and 23,000 inpatient bed days per year. Its owner, Gulf Medical Projects Company, agreed to a purchase price of Dhiram2.1 billion, or approximately $571.7 million. That works out to nearly $4.2 million per bed, but if the claim that the hospital had $130 million in revenue in 2015, the revenue multiple of 4.4x... Read More »

Major Mideast Hospital Matchup

The largest deal announced last week created the largest private healthcare provider in the United Arab Emirates, which may be why you didn’t hear much about it. The South African private hospital company Mediclinic International Ltd. (OTCQB: MCFFY) won the approval of the board of Al Noor Hospitals Group plc, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in a deal valued at $2.3 billion. Al Noor, which provides primary, secondary and tertiary care services through its portfolio of hospitals and medical centers in the UAE, spurned the advances of a crosstown rival NMC Health plc, and went with Mediclinic. Mediclinic shareholders will own a majority stake (84% to 93%) in the combined company, which will... Read More »