EFG Hermes, the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets (FEM), announced on Tuesday, that it has successfully completed advisory on a joint venture (JV) agreement signed between LSE-listed UAE healthcare leader National Medical Care Company (NMC) Healthcare PLC and Hassana Investment Company, the investment arm of Saudi-based General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). According to the press statement, the transaction, which closed yesterday, entails a 53% ownership by NMC Health PLC through NMC's contribution of its five assets in Saudi Arabia and an additional cash injection of SAR 250m (about $67m). Furthermore, GOSI, one of the largest pension funds in the world by assets under management, will own (through a wholly-owned subsidiary) a 47% stake in the JV through its contribution of its 38.88% stake in the Tadawul-listed NMC Company at SAR 54.00 ($14) per share. Thus, this JV will be one of the largest healthcare operators in Saudi Arabia (in terms of number of beds). "The deal, which is our first merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction in the kingdom, is a reflection of our previously communicated strategy to ramp up our Saudi business in light of an anticipated take-off following the kingdom's plans to deepen the market, and the upgrade to emerging market status on both FTSE Russell and MSCI," said Mohamed Ebeid, Co-CEO of the Investment Bank at EFG Hermes. Co-Head of Investment Banking at EFG Hermes, Mohamed Fahmi, said, "Having already completed the advisory on one of Saudi Arabia's largest initial public offerings, we anticipate we'll be seeing a significant pickup in activity throughout the kingdom. Our ultimate goal is to cement our position as the forerunner for regional equity capital market (ECM) and M&A activity over the upcoming period." EFG Hermes was joint advisor on the deal, and the sole execution broker for NMC Healthcare and Hassana Investment Company.
