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Health news, healthcare news and pharmaceuticals news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Zelis' platform serves more than 750 payers, including the top five national health plans in the US

Mubadala-led group buys stake in US company Zelis

A consortium led by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company is to acquire a minority stake in Zelis, a US-based financial technology company.   The other partners are Norwest and HarbourVest. Parthenon and Bain Capital remain the majority owners in Zelis. Zelis is helping to streamline the US healthcare financial experience, which is complex and needs technology-driven solutions, […]

A view of the Almoosa Rehabilitation Hospital. The hospital operator will divest 13.3 million shares in its IPO

Almoosa Health to raise up to $450m from Saudi IPO

Almoosa Health Company expects to raise between SAR1.63 billion and SAR1.69 billion ($433.80-449.7 million) from its initial public offering (IPO) on the Saudi stock exchange. The company set the offering price range between SAR123.00 and SAR127.00 per share as the institutional book-building period started on Wednesday and will end on December 10. The offer price […]

More than 50 Saudi Arabian companies are said t be waiting to list on the kingdom’s bourse in 2025

Saudi hospital operator Almoosa announces IPO

Almoosa Health Company has announced plans to launch an initial public offering of 30 percent of its shares on the Saudi stock market. The price range for the offering will be announced on December 4, with the institutional book-building process starting the same day. This will be followed by a retail subscription period from December […]

For AI to be properly integrated into healthcare, doctors need proper guidance, experts say

AI in healthcare is not a cure-all solution

Large language models such as the AI chatbot ChatGPT are gaining traction in healthcare, and Gulf states are investing heavily in the prospect, but LLMs’ integration into clinical practice presents challenges.  A study led by Dr Ethan Goh, published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Open Network, tested whether ChatGPT could […]

A woman works out at a gym in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. One investor said they had never seen as much interest from VCs in the fitness industry

Golden returns draw investors to fitness markets

Investors are showing increasing interest in homegrown fitness companies, tempted by the “golden egg” returns on offer. The fitness market in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) has been growing at an annual rate of 30 percent since 2020, with the UAE sector valued at an estimated $550 million and Saudi Arabia at $1.7 […]

NMC Royal Hospital in Mohammed Bin Zayed City, Abu Dhabi, one of 85 medical facilities the company operates in the UAE

PureHealth in talks to buy hospital operator NMC

PureHealth Holding, the UAE’s largest healthcare group, is in discussions to acquire the UAE hospital operator NMC Healthcare, sources familiar with the matter say. A deal, if finalised, could be announced before the first half of 2025, sources told AGBI, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other potential bidders had explored the opportunity but were not […]

Bahrain healthcare

Bahrain government rebuffs citizens’ quota in healthcare

A unanimous call by the Bahraini parliament for half the jobs in private healthcare to be reserved for citizens has been rejected by the government on the grounds of possible harm to patients and the potential impact on foreign direct investment. Government officials told the National Assembly that the proposed quota would constrain private healthcare’s […]

Aster saudi arabia

Aster DM Healthcare expects to close Saudi deals in months

Aster acquiring hospitals Evaluating 'five or six assets' Plans for 1,000 beds Aster DM Healthcare is buying more clinics and hospitals in Saudi Arabia with some deals expected to close in the coming months.  The hospital operat... Register now: It’s easy and free This content is available for registered members only. Register for your free […]

Saudi private healthcare

Healthy progress made in Saudi Arabia’s wellness drive

Private health services in Saudi Arabia are rapidly expanding as its growing population and the focus on improving citizens’ wellbeing under the Vision 2030 programme bring in billions of dollars in new domestic and foreign investments. During the Global Health Exhibition, held in Riyadh at the end of October, Saudi officials announced deals worth $13.3 […]

Saudi healthcare

Health sector next target for Saudi private equity

Private equity is looking to Saudi Arabia’s healthcare and wellness sectors for the kingdom’s next growth areas as it tries to manage a burgeoning young population.  Some 60 percent of Saudi Arabia’s 32 million-plus population are under 30, and analysts from research company S&P say the kingdom’s demographics are the main reason for a sustainable […]

Wellpharma, one of the four Mubadala pharma acquisitions, specalises in dialysis equipment and intravenous therapies

Mubadala pharma subsidiary makes four acquisitions from Yas

Mubadala Investment Company’s newly acquired subsidiary, Kelix Bio, has bought four pharma assets from Yas Holdings’ healthcare unit, GlobalOne Healthcare Holdings.  Kelix Bio purchased Bioventure, Bioventure Healthcare, Gulf Inject and Wellpharma, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala said on Monday.  The value of the deal was not disclosed. Mubadala said the four acquisitions would […]

Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib's second-quarter net earnings rose 14 percent year on year to SAR555 million

Sulaiman Al Habib secures $347m loan for Saudi expansion

Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group Company has secured long-term financing to expand across Saudi Arabia amid growing competition for healthcare services in the kingdom. The company, which trades on the Saudi stock exchange, has signed a sharia-compliant credit facility worth SAR1.3 billion ($347 million) with Al Rajhi Bank, a Saudi-listed lender. The 13-year-long facility will […]

Aster DM Gulf unit explores $250m Saudi expansion

The UAE-based hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare’s Gulf unit is exploring acquisitions worth $250 million to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia. The deals will focus on medical centres and hospitals, Bloomberg reported, quoting Alisha Moopen, managing director and group CEO of Aster’s Gulf Cooperation Council unit.  These deals will be finalised in the next […]

Traffic in central Riyadh. The capital's roads are being improved in time for the 2030 World Expo

Riyadh signs off billions to improve road safety

Riyadh municipality has signed five contracts worth SAR6 billion ($1.6 billion) to improve roads in the Saudi capital, where traffic accidents are above the global average.  The contracts entail rehabilitating and asphalting 83 million square metres of road network over five years, in time for Riyadh’s hosting of the 2030 World Expo, which will bring […]

Australian trade minister Don Farrell announces the UAE trade deal at Parliament House in Canberra

Australia and UAE hope for $678m boost after trade deal

Australian exports to the UAE are expected to increase by $678 million after the two countries completed discussions over a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa). The deal, expected to be signed later this year, will make more than 99 percent of Australian exports to the UAE tariff-free, saving exporters up to $160 million annually. The […]

Grifols, which is traded on Spanish bourses, is expected to go private following acquisition by Brookfield

Brookfield seeks ADQ support in bid for Spain’s Grifols

Brookfield Asset Management has been in discussions with ADQ, a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi, to explore potential support for acquiring Spanish blood-plasma company Grifols SA. The Canada-based investment company has also held talks with Singapore’s GIC Pte, though no agreements have been finalised, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources. Grifols, which is traded on […]

The deal includes UCB’s neurology and allergy portfolios in mainland China and its Zhuhai manufacturing site

Mubadala joins $680m acquisition of UCB’s Chinese business

Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company and Singapore’s CBC Group have jointly acquired the neurology and allergy business of UCB, a Belgian biopharmaceutical company, for $680 million. The deal includes UCB’s neurology portfolio (Keppra, Vimpat and Neupro) and allergy portfolio (Zyrtec and Xyzal) in mainland China and its Zhuhai manufacturing site. The combined net sales for […]

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi pictured last year reviewing plans to improve Egypt's healthcare system

Egypt’s government approves private health investments

Egypt’s government on Wednesday approved executive regulations for a bill that allows private investment in its public hospitals for the first time. The law, which obtained presidential ratification in June, allows Egyptian and foreign companies to bid to manage and operate existing public hospitals for a period of between three to 15 years. A statement […]

Burjeel said patient footfall increased to 3.1 million in the first six months of 2024

Burjeel profits drop despite jump in patient footfall

Hospital operator Burjeel Holdings said net profits for the first six months of 2024 fell 25 percent year on year to AED169 million ($46 million), despite annual revenue rising 9 percent to AED2.4 billion. Patient footfall increased to three million in the first six months, an increase of 11 percent in the second quarter. Abu […]

Three Gulf region healthcare sector IPOs in the first half of 2024 were worth a combined $788 million

Healthcare sector props up Gulf IPOs in 2024

The healthcare sector has emerged as a significant contributor of initial public offerings in the Gulf region during the first half of 2024, according to a report by the Kuwait Financial Centre, known as Markaz.  This comes despite an overall decline in new listings. However, Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hokail Academy Specialized Digital Polyclinics Company cancelled its […]

PIF subsidiary Nupco was established in 2009 with capital of SAR 1.5 billion

Saudi Arabia’s PIF hires banks for Nupco’s $1bn IPO

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has hired banks for the initial public offering of its wholly owned subsidiary, National Unified Procurement Company (Nupco), a media report said. The sovereign wealth fund has appointed global and local bankers, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and SNB Capital, to manage Nupco’s flotation, Bloomberg reported, […]

Doctors take a rest in a Covid-19 intensive care unit. The Abu Dhabi platform hopes to help avert such devastating epidemics with AI

Abu Dhabi launches AI tender to predict epidemic threats

The Abu Dhabi Public Health Center has launched a tender for an artificial intelligence-powered platform designed to predict epidemic threats. The aim is for the platform to use AI’s ability to process extensive and complex datasets at high speed as a way to analyse both local and international outbreak trends alongside national travel patterns to […]