NMC Healthcare expected to come out of administration in mid-March

NMC Healthcare is expected to come out of the administration in the middle of March as a new board has been appointed, a senior official said on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of home dialysis service in Dubai on Monday, Michael Davis, chief executive of NMC Healthcare, said the company is also open for acquisitions that can support its growth strategy but clarified there is nothing on the table now.

“Not this year but in the future as we move towards new ownership and we have a new board of directors… We are talking about the middle of March (that) we are coming out of the administration. A new board has been appointed but not yet installed. There will be more announcements later that I can’t disclose now,” said Davis.

“These are very important times for NMC Healthcare and we are really excited about what the next one year to 18 months holds for us,” Davis said on the sidelines of the press conference on Monday.

In November 2021, the healthcare services provider had said it expected to exit administration and be taken over by its creditors before the end of 2021 under an agreed restructuring.

It ran into trouble in 2021 after more than $4 billion in hidden debt left many local and foreign banks with heavy losses and its UAE operating businesses were placed into administration in the courts of Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM).

In September, its creditors, who owed a total of $7.1 billion, approved a restructuring of the company which would give them the ownership of 34 NMC group companies and allow them to exist administration in Abu Dhabi.

The company’s third-quarter revenue rose to $915 million from $816 million a year ago.

Davis added that 202-21 results were the best since the company’s inception and it provided services to about 8.5 million patients last year in UAE.

Commenting on the expansion, Davis added that NMC is adding additional beds into its existing facilities.

“If there is an opportunity to acquire any clinic that will help feed our hospitals, we are happy to do that. We have more beds coming in Al Nahda and DIP which will be operational in the middle of this year. The demand in those areas is great. We are looking at expanding in Sharjah as well,” he added.

The company will also increase its workforce of trained nurses and other support staff for the new home dialysis services launched in Dubai.

“Staffing is an issue across the world because of the pandemic. We will hire as many staff we need to take care of patients, but each home health patient requires three caregivers, and we are likely to see 100 home patients so we need 300 additional staff,” he added.

– waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com