DUBAI, April 11 (Reuters) – Middle East hospital operator VPS Healthcare has hired investment banks for an initial public offering (IPO) in Abu Dhabi in the second half of the year, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.
VPS has appointed the investment banking arm of Dubai lender Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) as global coordinators, the sources said, without giving details on the scope of the deal.
Sources told Reuters in February that VPS Healthcare was considering an IPO. Continue reading
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VPS Healthcare declined to comment Monday. Emirates NBD and JP Morgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The operator of the Burjeel hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a network of 24 hospitals and 125 clinics in the Middle East and India.
The proposed listing would test appetites for the private healthcare sector, where hospitals have seen a decline in non-COVID patients during the pandemic and are only now returning to full medical services thanks to high vaccination rates and reduced COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The company had previously planned to go public with a London listing, but had to reconsider in 2019 due to uncertainty surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Gulf region issuers have raised $3.5 billion so far this year, data from Refinitiv shows.
Gulf markets are highly correlated with oil prices, where Brent crude is trading for more than $95 a barrel. Abu Dhabi’s main benchmark is up more than 19% this year.
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Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh Editing by David Goodman
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