Middle East's Foundation Holdings Completes AED 500mn Worth Of Private Institutional Investments
Distinctive strategy targeting social impact investments in healthcare and education delivers results
Foundation Holdings, a strategic global investment firm, marked the end of 2019 with a portfolio expansion in India's healthcare and education sectors with two transactions and impending plans for one more transaction by year end in the GCC. The company invests in markets that are underserved and where its economic investment can result in a social impact while providing economic returns. With its strategic investments, the firm seeks to bring affordable, accessible and quality solutions in these sectors to a wider customer base.
Over the past three years, Foundation Holdings' investment team has completed AED 500mn million worth of private institutional investments impacting 2 million lives and employing over 5,000 employees. Staying true to its promise of social impact investment, the firm's forward-looking investment policy integrates sustainability as part of its investment criteria while committing to positively impact the long-term economic benefit of its stakeholders.
The company intends to IPO two of the four companies in the next three to five years.
Healthcare Sector
In the GCC, bed density is 17 per 10,000 capita against global benchmarks of 27.5, demand has outstripped supply providing opportunity to providers to grow.
Foundation Holdings established Right Health in January 2018. Today, the company is the UAE's largest and fastest-growing value healthcare organization with a comprehensive network of 58 facilities that serves approximately one million patients annually.
Globally, healthcare is evolving and changing demographic, operational, financial and regulatory considerations have given rise to single-specialty healthcare delivery. Providers are focusing on delivering better care by unbundling from multi-specialty hospitals. The eye healthcare market in India is one such single-specialty on the rise. As per Bain, one third of the world's blind population resides in India with an addressable market of 600 million people. The private eye healthcare market is projected to reach US$11.9 billion by 2023 with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent between financial years 2015 and 2023.
Foundation Holdings recently entered the eye healthcare and single specialty space in India through its US$ 43 million acquisition of a stake in ASG Hospital Pvt. Ltd. Founded in 2005 with a mission of making the best eye care solutions available to every individual, ASG Eye Hospital currently has a network of 33 hospitals across 13 states in India, in addition to medical centers in Kampala, Uganda, and Kathmandu, Nepal.
Education Sector
According to the latest research by the management consulting firm Technopak, India's education market is currently valued at US$110 billion and is expected to grow at 10% per annum to reach US$147 billion by 2022. Growth is expected to be driven by growth in population, increasing foreign investments and favorable policy support. There exists headroom opportunity for private providers to grow as the total K-12 seeking population is 299 million against only 264 million enrolments currently.
Foundation Holdings and the Ryan International Group of Institutions, India's leader in private K12 education with over 135 schools in 40 cities that teach 270,000 students, announced the launch of a joint venture (JV) that seeks to transform the K-12 education sector in India. Operating under the brand name Ryan EduNation, the JV blends the complementary skillsets of the two entities.
To accelerate growth, Ryan EduNation recently acquired the managed school platform owned by Pearson India Education Services, that currently impacts over 18,000 students across India. The acquisition offers the JV access to a best-in-class school management team with valuable experience in the three critical pillars of education – academic excellence, operational excellence, and health, safety and child protection – across the acquired portfolio.
Abhishek Sharma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Foundation Holdings, said: "We strongly believe that healthcare and education will drive human capital, innovation and transformational opportunities for today's youth and thus these sectors are the key focus areas for the firm's current and future strategy and growth."
He added: "The GCC region and India are compelling markets for companies in these sectors that are poised for exponential growth. Combined, the markets comprise a US$4 trillion ecosystem that provides tremendous investment opportunities. We are witnessing an increased focus on guaranteeing consistent returns across the board through increasing operational value. When Foundation Holdings invests in an organization, it also invests in its people and vision. We aspire to differentiate ourselves with our long-term strategy and our commitment to value creation through our investments."
