Pure Health, the UAE’s largest healthcare group, aims to raise Dh3.62 billion ($986 million) from its initial public offering on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

The company plans to sell about 1.11 billion shares, equal to 10 per cent of its total issued share capital, at an offering price of Dh3.26 per share, it said in a statement on Friday.

The subscription period for the IPO will open on December 6 and close on December 11, for both the retail and institutional tranches. The retail tranche will include about 4.5 per cent of the offer, with the remaining allocated for institutional investors.

Pure Health expects to start trading on the ADX on December 20, it said.

The company has recorded “strong investor interest” since announcing its intention to list on the ADX last month, said Farhan Malik, managing director and chief executive of Pure Health.

“Our vision is dedicated to transforming the existing healthcare system in the UAE, shifting from a reactive, episodic model to a continuous, proactive ecosystem driven by advanced digital infrastructure.

“Our upcoming IPO offers investors a unique opportunity to be part of an international healthcare platform.”

Markets in the Mena region have recorded strong listing activity this year amid increasing investor interest. Six IPOs raised a total of $523 million in the third quarter of this year in the region, according to the latest report from EY.

Although this represented a 14 per cent annual decrease in the number of listings and a 66 per cent drop in proceeds, the IPO pipeline for the fourth quarter and into 2024 “remains promising”, the report said.

There were a total of 29 IPOs with total proceeds of $5.8 billion in the first nine months of the year in the region, with all the listing activity taking place in the GCC, EY said.

Meanwhile, between January and September, ADX ranked sixth globally in terms of IPO proceeds, which reached $3.7 billion, another EY report found.

Pure Health’s UAE portfolio includes 25 hospitals, 100 clinics, multiple diagnostic centres, health insurance solutions, pharmacies, health technology solutions and procurement.

In June last year, the company committed to spend Dh10 billion over the next 10 years on procuring products in the UAE and supporting the country’s economy. Last month, it acquired Dubai-based IT services provider PureCS to use technology to enhance its services and solutions.

Pure Health is also expanding its presence globally, including the recent acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in Circle Health Group, the UK’s largest independent operator of hospitals from Centene Corporation, in a deal valued at Dh4.41 billion.

The acquisition marked Pure Health’s entry into the UK market.

In May, Pure Health completed its Dh1.8 billion purchase of an equity investment in Ardent Health Services, which is the US’s fourth-largest private healthcare group operating across six states.

Current shareholders in Pure Health are Alpha Dhabi Holding and International Holding Company (IHC) Healthcare Holding, and Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ, by way of a wholly owned subsidiary.

In January last year, ADQ signed a deal to merge its healthcare subsidiaries, including Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, better known as Seha, and the National Health Insurance Company (Daman) with Pure Health to create the largest healthcare provider in the Emirates. ADQ merged its healthcare entities, Rafed and Union71, with Pure Health in 2021.

First Abu Dhabi Bank has been appointed as the lead receiving bank and the lead manager for the IPO. Wio Bank and Al Maryah Community Bank have also been appointed as receiving banks.

Updated: December 01, 2023, 12:42 PM