9th Oct 2015 14:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Al Noor Hospitals Group PLC Friday confirmed it has received an approach from London-listed peer NMC Health PLC regarding a possible takeover offer just days after Al Noor said it was in talks with South African private hospital group Mediclinic International Ltd about a possible reverse takeover.
Both Al Noor Hospitals and NMC Health are FTSE 250-constituent healthcare operators in the United Arab Emirates.
Under the UK Takeover Code, NMC is now required to either announce a firm intention to make an offer by November 6, or walk away. NMC separately Friday confirmed it had made an approach about a possible cash and share offer for Al Noor.
"NMC believes the financial rationale and strategic logic of the combination of our businesses is compelling, creating a Middle Eastern market leader in acute and post-acute care with a clear leading position in the highly attractive UAE market," the company said in a statement.
"The combined group would be able to capture business opportunities and provide clinical services which are not readily available to the companies on a standalone basis, and NMC believes it represents an unrivalled opportunity for value creation for our combined shareholders fully in line with NMC's stated strategy as outlined earlier this year," NMC added.
On Monday, Al Noor had said it was in talks with Mediclinic over a potential merger that, if it were to occur, would be implemented through the issue of new shares to the shareholders of Mediclinic and constitute a reverse takeover of Al Noor by Mediclinic.
Mediclinic is a Johannesburg-listed private hospital group with operations in South Africa, Namibia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
At that time Al Noor noted Mediclinic's exposure to the UK through a minority stake in Spire Healthcare PLC. Remgro, a major shareholder in Mediclinic, bought a 29.9% stake in Spire from private equity firm Cinven in June.
Shares in Al Noor were up 1.8% at 998.00 pence Friday afternoon, whilst NMC Health was down 2.4% at 811.50 pence.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
NMC.LSpire HealthcareANH.L