Press Release

Gulf Capital, one of the largest and most active alternative asset managers in the Middle East, announced today that it has successfully exited its investment in Amana Healthcare, the UAE’s largest and fastest-growing provider of specialised continuum-of-care services including long-term care, medical rehabilitation and specialised home healthcare.

Gulf Credit Partners fully realised an early exit from its investment in Amana Healthcare when a controlling stake in the business was sold to a strategic healthcare buyer.

Following the initial investment in 2014, which was used for growth capital, Gulf Credit Partners assisted Amana Healthcare in implementing strong corporate governance, securing additional financing from other lenders for further expansion, introducing best practices and strengthening its financial reporting. Through this partnership, Amana was also able to improve its social and environmental monitoring and reporting according to the guidelines and Performance Standards of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to comply with Gulf Credit Partners’ Environmental and Social Management System framework. Amana also became the first specialised rehabilitation hospital in the UAE to be accredited by the U.S. Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (“CARF”) and is today the only healthcare provider in the UAE to have CARF accreditation across all its facilities and service lines.

Dr. Karim El Solh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital, said: “Our team has enjoyed working and partnering with the talented team at Amana Healthcare, helping them achieve their growth strategy and unique position in the market. From day one, we believed in the team and their vision and we worked relentlessly to make it a reality. We are proud that Amana today has become the market leader in its category in the UAE. This exit reinforces Gulf Capital’s track record of backing visionary entrepreneurs, providing them with growth capital and expertise and helping their companies become dominant market leaders.”

Christopher Foll, Senior Managing Director, Private Debt at Gulf Capital, said: “This successful investment demonstrates our commitment to financing resilient, high-quality businesses operating in the defensive sector of the economy. We are very happy to have had the opportunity to work with such a talented team and to help Amana Healthcare achieve its goal of becoming the market leader in high-quality, specialised long-term care, rehabilitation and home healthcare in the region.”

A spokesperson for Amana Healthcare added: “Gulf Capital was a committed business partner which invested time, money and expertise in this venture and was responsive to our commercial and operational needs. The investment from Gulf Capital expedited our plans to deliver best-in-class long-term medical care and post-acute rehabilitation to the people of the UAE. Gulf Credit Partners not only offered financing to help us grow but also assisted us in securing additional funding for further expansion, establishing corporate governance and best practice frameworks and becoming the first private rehabilitation hospital in the UAE to receive the enviable accreditation from CARF. Gulf Capital’s contribution was crucial in taking our company to the next phase.”

Improving access to high-quality healthcare is a long-standing priority of the UAE government. Significant public and private investment continues to fuel tremendous growth of the industry. Healthcare services are expected to continue to benefit from both the overall growth in healthcare spending, as well as the increasing preference of healthcare regulators towards high-quality, private providers for certain specialised services.