Sign in
Aster GCC is looking at acquiring USD 250 mn (SAR 937.8 mn) worth of assets as it looks to expand in Saudi, Managing Director and group CEO of Aster’s GCC unit Alisha Moopen tells Bloomberg. The company — a subsidiary of Dubai-based Aster DM Healthcare — is eyeing medical centers and hospitals that should be completed over the next 3-5 years, Moopen said. “We are not only doubling down, we are tripling down on Saudi,” she added.
More on Aster’s Saudi drive: Aster currently operates Riyadh’s Aster Sanad Hospital — its only hospital here — which now has a 200-bed capacity after adding 50 earlier this month. The healthcare provider is looking to boost its Saudi portfolio to more than 1k beds, 180 pharmacies, and 24 medical centers within the next three to five years, the business information service reported. Aside from Aster’s current Riyadh-based hospital, the outfit is also looking to ramp up its pharmacies to 20 within the next few months.
IPO plans are still in the making: “It’s a good time to build before we take the company public, but the end goal is in the next few years to look at a listing,” Moopen told Bloomberg. Aster DM Chairman and Managing Director Azad Moopen had said earlier this year that the GCC unit was looking at a dual listing in Saudi and the UAE within the next three to five years.
REMEMBER- Parent company Aster DM Healthcare spun off its GCC assets into a separate unit after a consortium led by Dubai-based private equity firm Fajr Capital snapped up 65% of its Gulf business earlier this year for USD 1 bn.
