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Thursday, 28 October 2021

Bidding war for Alex Medical cooling off?

The bidding war for Alex Medical appears to be cooling down, with Alexandria Medical Investment subsidiary TAT Medical Service being the latest to pull its offer to acquire up to 100% of Alex Medical Services, according to a Financial Regulatory Authority statement (pdf). The company notified the regulator yesterday, according to the statement. TAT was offering EGP 49.04 per share of Alex Medical, upping its bid from the EGP 45.53 it had initially offered in May, which had put it in the pole position to secure the acquisition.

Background: TAT had submitted a mandatory tender offer (MTO) to acquire Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) 51.5% stake in Alex Medical in May, with an eye to snap up 100% of the company. After raising its bid in June, a consortium made up of Saudi’s Tawasol Holdings and private equity firm LimeVest then upped its bid to EGP 52 apiece, raising the purchase price to EGP 740 mn, and bumping TAT from the top position.

Where does this leave the battle for Alex Medical? TAT is the second to exit the heated (and protracted) bidding war for the company, after Speed Medical pulled out in May. The bidders still standing are Cleopatra Hospitals Group (which just purchased a brownfield project in East Cairo), UAE’s Global One Healthcare, Nile Misr, healthcare investment firm Seha Capital, and the consortium of Tawasol Holdings and LimeVest. Last we heard, Nile Misr Healthcare, which represents diagnostics lab Nile Scan, cautioned that it might pull out of the race as well due to the purchase price being driven up.

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