Dubai’s Aster DM Healthcare has set its sights on a project in Abu Dhabi after raising its stake in a Saudi hospital yesterday.
Aster DM already has five greenfield projects being built in the region that will add about 400 hospital beds. They are Aster Hospital Abu Dhabi, Medcare Palace on Sheikh Zayed Road, Medcare Hospital in Sharjah, Aster Hospital in Al Qusais, and one in Qatar.
The company, however, declined to provide details about the new Abu Dhabi project.
Aster DM Healthcare yesterday acquired an additional 57 per cent stake in Sanad Hospital in Riyadh for Dh900 million, lifting its ownership to 97 per cent.
It now owns six hospitals in the Arabian Gulf.
The group is preparing for an initial public offering this financial year but the company declined to provide updates.
With its latest move, Aster DM Healthcare joins NMC Healthcare and Mediclinic in the UAE in increasing their pace of mergers and acquisitions.
Last week, NMC Healthcare joined Johannesburg-listed Mediclinic in seeking to acquire the London-listed Al Noor Hospitals Group.
The Sanad Hospital in Riyadh has 250 beds, more than 100 doctors and surgeons, as well as 800 employees – of which Saudi nationals comprise 30 per cent.
“Our financial injection will help to accelerate Sanad Hospital’s expansion plans,” said Dr Azad Moopen, the chairman of Aster DM Healthcare.
It would add 100 inpatient beds, two buildings and upgrade the main building with more emergency rooms and outpatient clinics, according to Alisha Moopen, the company’s director of strategy.
Mergers and acquisitions involving Middle Eastern investors reached US$33.7 billion in the first nine months of this year, up 23 per cent year on year, according to Thomson Reuters and Freeman Consulting Services. It marks a record since 2010. Outbound mergers and acquisitions drove the deals.
Aster DM Healthcare, which acquired a 40 per cent stake in Sanad Hospital in December 2011, also has healthcare facilities in India, Jordan and the Philippines.
According to a Colliers report in 2012, Saudi Arabia had the lowest number of beds, nurses and doctors per 1,000 people in the Arabian Gulf.
“By combining forces and bringing together a group of clinics and hospitals, the talent pool can be shared within the provider group and it would create synergies within the group and for the health sector,” Ahmed Faiyaz, a healthcare analyst with the consultancy EY, said of Aster DM Healthcare’s investment move.
As of 2012, Saudi Arabia had 420 hospitals, of which 130 were run by the private sector, according to a report from the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center and Saudi Arabia’s National Guard Health Affairs.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
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How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
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Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
