Abu Dhabi’s IHC acquires 40% stake in healthcare company RPM

Response Plus Medical Services, which specialises in providing healthcare services at remote sites, operates more than 200 clinics

 International Holding Company on Monday said it acquired a 40 per cent stake in Response Plus Medical Services through one of its subsidiaries. Courtesy IHC

Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company's (IHC) subsidiary acquired a 40 per cent stake in Response Plus Medical Services (RPM) for an undisclosed sum.

RPM, which is a unit of VPS Healthcare, specialises in providing on-site healthcare services in remote work locations and medical emergency transfers.

The deal will allow IHC to expand its "reach, scale and expertise", the company said in a statement on Monday to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares trade.

“With our own primary and secondary care companies and clinics, we will be able to create considerable synergy and support a significant push into the GCC and Africa in the next five years where this type of on-site healthcare management and medical emergency transfers is needed,” Syed Shueb, chief executive and managing director of IHC, said.

Demand for healthcare services has grown amid the coronavirus pandemic and companies are aiming to tap into this demand by ramping up their investments in medical services such as diagnostics, testing and other support services.

IHC, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi's PAL Group of Companies, has steadily expanded its portfolio by acquiring businesses in emerging technologies, real estate and health care among others. The company acquired a stake in California-based aerospace company SpaceX through a private equity fund and has invested in UK-based DNA sequencing company Oxford Nanopore technologies and New York digital marketing company Yieldmo.

Earlier this month, it completed a 45 per cent stake purchase in Alpha Dhabi Holding, a real estate and construction sector-focused company previously known as Trojan Holding.

IHC also has investments in Quantlase Imaging Lab, the company behind the rapid Covid-19 screening system operated on the border between Abu Dhabi and Dubai at Ghantoot and Tamouh Healthcare.

RPM handles “on-site healthcare management and medical emergency transfers throughout the Middle East".

"IHC shares these values, and we firmly believe that this strategic partnership will benefit both of us,” Shamsheer Vayalil, chairman and managing director of VPS Healthcare, said.

Set up in 2010, RPM operates more than 200 site clinics and the largest fleet of ambulances in UAE. It operates more than 150 ambulances in the GCC.

It provides medical services to sectors such as oil and gas, the construction industry and the chemical industries.

RPM also plans to expand within the GCC, India and in Ghana and Nigeria over the next five years, IHC said.