Tuesday, Aug 28, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Integrated Diagnostics Holding, a medical labs company to be formed by the merger of Egypt's Al Borg Laboratories and Al Mokhtabar Laboratories, is planning an initial public offering on the Egyptian stock exchange within a year, according to an Al Borg board member.
Ahmed Badreldin, the vice chairman of Al Borg and a senior partner at Dubai-based private equity firm Abraaj Capital, said the IPO would give investors access to a fast-growing industry in emerging markets across the region. The merger, he said, would result in higher profits and more cash to invest in acquisitions and expansion.
"For a pure-play labs business it's one of the biggest outside of Brazil," he said. "Our idea is that you can grow this business significantly into other geographies but also other products. It was a one-trick pony. Now it's multiple products and geographies."
Al Mokthabar currently has a presence in Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, while Al Borg has central laboratories in Cairo, Amman and Khartoum.
Abraaj, which has $7.5 billion of assets under management, owns about 99% of Al Borg. The company is to hold about half of Integrated Diagnostics Holding after the merger with Al Mokhtabar is complete, Mr. Badreldin said.
The merger was announced on Monday. Hend El Sherbini, the chief executive of Al Mokhtabar and a professor of clinical pathology at Cairo University, is to head up the combined group.
Abraaj was not taking out dividends or any cash profits as a result of the merger, Mr. Badreldin said, adding that its market capitalization after an IPO would likely be around 3 billion Egyptian pounds ($492.6 million). The companies did not disclose the value of the merger transaction.
-By Asa Fitch, Dow Jones Newswires, +971 4 446-1685, asa.fitch@dowjones.com; Twitter: @ZDJnews
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
28-08-12 0808GMT
