Amanat Holdings, a leading healthcare and education listed investment company, has created the largest pan-GCC post-acute care platform. This was done through the merger of Sukoon International Holding Company with Cambridge Medical & Rehabilitation Centre (CMRC) via a non-cash share swap, whereby the Sukoon shareholders will receive 15% of Amanat’s shares in CMRC in return for Amanat receiving additional shares in Sukoon. 

 

The company has obtained the GAC approval on the transaction, remains subject to other regulatory approvals and transaction closing.

 

Commenting on the transaction, Amanat’s Chairman, Hamad Alshamsi said: “On the acquisition of CMRC we set out an ambitious strategy to expand to 1,000 pan-regional beds within three years and with today’s announcement we are delivering on this ambition. Post-merger the platform will operate 400 beds in the UAE and KSA across 4 cities (Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain, Dhahran, and Jeddah) with a 300-bed expansion under way, primarily in KSA and further expansion plans in the pipeline. With today’s announcement Amanat is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the estimated 24k post-acute care bed gap across KSA and the UAE in the next four years.”

 

Shareholder value

Chief Executive Officer of Amanat, Dr Mohamad Hamade, added: “The merger of Sukoon with CMRC is part of our active portfolio management strategy that realises shareholder value, firstly by positioning Amanat in rapidly expanding specialist sectors and secondly by delivering significant cost synergies, both key value-generation pillars in our platform strategy.

 

“Furthermore, this sub-sector of healthcare relieves public healthcare systems by improving efficiency through unblocking intensive-care unit beds that are currently being used for long-term care services provided by general hospitals. Players like CMRC will help in reducing public healthcare spending in addition to providing services for underserved medical rehabilitation needs.”-- TradeArabia News Service