Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund ADQ’s PureHealth, a healthcare provider, is exploring the acquisition of NMC Healthcare, a hospital operator, reported Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.
This deal, if confirmed, could place the value of the hospital chain at billions of dollars, the sources added.
PureHealth launched on the stock exchange last year and is currently in the preliminary phase of evaluating a potential offer for NMC.
NMC is a private health provider in the UAE, with a network of approximately 85 medical facilities, including community clinics, day surgery centres, and fertility clinics.
David Hadley, who previously served as the Middle East head of the Mediclinic Group, assumed the role of CEO at NMC early last year.
NMC's history includes a past listing on the London Stock Exchange and membership in the FTSE 100 Index before it collapsed in 2019 due to borrowings of more than $4bn.
Following a restructuring, the company is now primarily owned by its creditors.
Discussions around the acquisition are still in progress, and no definitive decisions have been made.
With a market valuation of $10.3bn, PureHealth owns a varied portfolio, comprising over ten companies throughout the UAE, alongside Circle Health Group in the UK and Ardent Health Services in the US.
The company oversees the operations of more than 100 hospitals and over 300 clinics, employing over 56,000 individuals.
In addition to hospital management, PureHealth operates over 147 laboratories and also offers health insurance services.
Last year, PureHealth raised approximately Dh3.62bn ($986m) in an initial public offering (IPO).
Before its IPO, various organisations such as Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA) and National Health Insurance (Daman) were merged into PureHealth by ADQ.
In a separate venture, ADQ is also focusing on merging its pharmaceutical assets to form a life sciences company, with operations spanning four continents.
This effort involves the integration of Egypt's Amoun Pharmaceutical, Switzerland's Acino International, and Turkey's Birgi Mefar Group into a new holding company called Arcera, as revealed in April.
