UAE hospital operator NMC’s non-core asset sale plan still on despite creditors taking control

Dubai: Hospital operator NMC will proceed with the sale of non-core international assets despite the planned transfer of the company’s business to creditors following a restructuring exercise, its joint administrators said.

The statement came after joint administrators from Alvarez & Marsal said earlier this week it will shortly launch the formal voting process to complete the financial restructuring of the NMC business, ensuring its exit from administration in Abu Dhabi.

“The sale process of the non-core international assets is proceeding and we hope to be able to make more formal announcements on these soon,” Richard Fleming, the joint administrator said in an email on Wednesday.

NMC’s core assets are in the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

In December last year it agreed to sell Spain-based fertility business Eugin Group. Its also owns Aspen Healthcare, a small private hospital chain in the UK, and has a joint venture in Saudi Arabia with seven facilities.

A source said creditors would take a decision later concerning the planned sale process for the core business in the UAE and Oman.

NMC, which was founded by Indian businessman BR Shetty in the mid-1970s, became the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE but ran into trouble after short-seller Muddy Waters questioned its financial reporting and doubts emerged over the size of stakes owned by its biggest shareholders.

NMC also disclosed more than $4 billion in hidden debt, which led to the London-listed NMC Health being put into administration in April last year.

Later UAE operating businesses were placed into administration in the courts of Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre ADGM.