Pure Health shares jump 77% on first day of trading
▶ Prices hit as high as Dh5.77 on Abu Dhabi bourse before closing at Dh5.74
Shares in Pure Health, the UAE’s largest healthcare group, soared on their Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange debut yesterday after an IPO raised Dh3.62 billion ($986 million).
They hit Dh5.50 as the market opened, surged by as much as 77 per cent on the offer price of Dh3.26 to touch Dh5.77, before closing at Dh5.74.
Pure Health priced its listing at Dh3.26 a share, with an offering size of 1.11 billion ordinary shares, or 10 per cent of its total issued share capital. The founders retain 90 per cent of the company. The retail tranche was oversubscribed by 483 times and the institutional offering attracted Dh186 billion, an oversubscription of 54 times.
Farhan Malik, co-founder and managing director of Pure Health, said it would “continue to transform health care, in line with the vision of Abu Dhabi’s leadership, together delivering accessible, worldclass healthcare backed by the latest in AI technology”.
Its debut on the ADX came a day after it appointed Shaista Asif, co-founder and group chief operating officer, as the group’s chief executive.
Pure Health’s IPO is part of a listings boom in the Arabian Gulf, driven by government incentives, overseas investor interest and wider economic diversification efforts.
IPO activity in the wider Mena region increased in the second quarter of this year, when the volume of offerings on regional stock markets rose 44 per cent annually, powered by strong economic growth, consultancy company EY said.
Strong listing activity this year came amid increasing investor interest and a public mandate created to support IPOs and improve liquidity.
The market leader operates more than 25 hospitals, 100 clinics, diagnostic centres, health insurance, pharmacies, health technology platforms and procurement companies.
In May, Pure Health completed its Dh1.8 billion purchase of an equity investment in Ardent Health Services, a privately held acute care hospital operator in the US.
Pure Health, the UAE’s largest healthcare group, soared on its debut on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange yesterday, after an initial public offering that raised Dh3.62 billion ($986 million).
Shares in the company, whose offering registered “significant demand” from investors in the UAE and the region, opened at Dh5.50 and surged as high as 77 per cent from its its listing of Dh3.26 a share to Dh5.77 in early trading, before settling at Dh5.74.
Pure Health announced an offering size of 1.11 billion ordinary shares, or 10 per cent of its total issued share capital.
Pure Health’s founders will retain a 90 per cent stake in the company. The retail tranche was oversubscribed 483 times and the institutional offering attracted Dh186 billion, indicating an oversubscription level of 54 times.
Pure Health’s IPO is the sixth on the ADX this year and brings the total value of listings on the exchange this year to $5.57 billion.
“We will continue to transform health care, in line with the vision of Abu Dhabi’s leadership, together delivering accessible, world-class healthcare backed by the latest in AI technology and supported by continued public and private sector collaboration,” Farhan Malik, co-founder and managing director of Pure Health, said in a statement.
“This listing will further support our equity growth story by enabling us in taking the organisation from Abu Dhabi to the world.”
Pure Health’s debut on the ADX comes a day after it appointed Shaista Asif, the company’s co-founder and group chief operating officer, as its new group chief executive. Ms Asif was ranked ninth by Forbes Middle East on its list of the 100 Most Powerful Businesswomen in 2023 and first in health care.
Mr Malik’s role has been expanded and he will now lead efforts to develop Pure Health’s business globally, “formulating effective strategies and ensuring the delivery of service excellence to clients, thereby adding value to shareholders”, the company said.
Pure Health’s IPO came amid a flurry of listings in the Arabian Gulf, driven by government incentives, foreign investor interest and diversification efforts.
IPO activity in the wider Mena region gathered momentum in the second quarter of this year, as the volume of offerings on regional bourses surged 44 per cent annually amid robust economic growth, data from global consultancy EY showed.
The strong listing activity this year came amid increasing investor interest and a public mandate aimed at supporting IPOs to boost liquidity in local bourses. A total of 29 IPOs with proceeds of $5.8 billion were recorded in the first nine months of the year in the Mena region, with all the listing activity taking place in the GCC, EY said.
“We aim to continuously strengthen our market infrastructure and trading offerings and investment services to enable more local and global companies to achieve their capital raising and investment ambitions,” said Abdulla Alnuaimi, chief executive of the ADX.
Pure Health now has more than 25 hospitals, 100 clinics, diagnostic centres, health insurance solutions, pharmacies, health technology platforms and procurement solutions.
These include centres operated by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, or Seha; the National Health Insurance Company, or Daman; and the Medical Office, which oversees the Sheikh Khalifa group of hospitals and medical centres.