Amanat considering stake in VPS Healthcare

Dubai: Amanat Holdings, an investment company with interests in healthcare and education, announced that it is assessing a potential acquisition of a strategic stake in the Middle East operations of VPS Healthcare.

Established in 2007 and founded by Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, VPS Healthcare is an integrated private healthcare service provider in the UAE with a growing foothold in Oman. Amanat considers this potential Transaction as fully aligned with its strategy to invest in leading healthcare service providers and establishing platforms to grow and scale profitably. This transaction is expexted to further consolidate the firm’s position as a key healthcare investment company and partner of choice with fully-fledged operational capabilities to build long-term value for shareholders.

Dr. Vayalil holds the position of Vice Chairman and Managing Director at Amanat Holdings, and as such he will not be participating in any discussions related to this Transaction.

“Amanat has robust governance processes, measures and risk management in place to ensure that any conflict of interest is managed. Any definitive agreement will require formal approvals from Amanat’s Board of Directors, its General Assembly and its regulators and will be done in full compliance with the UAE regulations,” the company said in a statement.

Amanat has appointed JP Morgan as its financial advisor on the transaction. The transaction is still at an early stage and is contingent upon commercial and business due diligence as well as internal and regulatory approvals.

Amanat focuses on core defensive sectors of education and healthcare that are set to benefit from sustained growth across the Middle East. The GCC Healthcare sector is expected to grow at a 6.7 per cetn CAGR by 2022 with Government spending expected to rise to $30.5 billion by 2021 from $2.4 billion in 2016.