Finance Monthly M&A Awards 2019 - Winners Edition

FINANCE MONTHLY M&A AWARDS 2019 73 ABOUT MANSOOR AHMED Mansoor Ahmed is Director (MENA Region) at Colliers International UAE for Development Solutions, Healthcare, Education and PPP. He has over seventeen years of experience in consulting and applied economic research at Colliers International, Ernst & Young, Andersen Consulting Worldwide, and Manazel Real Estate PJSC in the areas of Business / Strategic / Operational Planning and Transformation, Economic, Market and Financial Feasibility Studies, Asset and Business Valuations, Due Diligence, Private Equity and Operators Search & Selection. He is an Economist with double Master, Masters in Applied Economics and Master in Science. FIRM PROFILE Colliers International is an industry leading global real estate company with more than 15,000 skilled professionals operating in 68 countries. What sets us apart is not what we do, but how we do it. Our enterprising culture encourages Colliers people to think differently, share great ideas and create effective solutions that help clients accelerate their success. Colliers International is the advisor of choice for many of the world’s most innovative and successful companies. Why healthcare and education assets have become so popular in the recent past? Although, both healthcare and education are social infrastructure sectors, they are now seen as legitimate asset classes in their own right, and with this recognition, the demand from institutional and private sectors continues to grow. Given the ongoing global economic crisis, both the traditional real estate and local bourses offered limited scope to the investor and regional funds. Healthcare and education projects supported by strong demand demographics rapidly attracted funds and private investors looking towards new avenues of investment. In the last few years, the healthcare and education sectors have seen tremendous growth, and have been one of the few sectors that have not actually been adversely affected by the downturn. This perceived immunity to economic cycles has made some view these sectors as being ‘recession-proof’. What is unusual is that healthcare and education projects are considered as traditional ‘defensive (inflationary) plays’ in many institutional global markets, offering low but firm yields. In the MENA region, the benefit is that these sectors retain their safe haven status, while providing returns that would usually fall in the opportunistic category. Prior to 2009, the region was best known for the number of real estate master plans with off-plan residential sales that were in motion. Following the abrupt cessation of sales as a direct impact of the financial crisis, this left many real estate developers struggling to attract those purchasers still in the market, and the even-more limited availability of development finance. The healthcare and education sectors, for which finance options are available, brought many developers in the region and two immediate benefits: people want to live where there are schools and hospitals, and the emergence of sale and leaseback options to institutional investors as a means to access difficult-to-find cash. What is the current state of the healthcare and educationsectorsintheUAE,intermsofM&A?What do you think the next 12-24 months hold for the sectors? After Mediclinic’s acquisition of Al Noor Hospital in Feb 2016 for £1.4 billion ($2.2 billion) and NMC Hospital acquisition of Al Zahra Hospital for £444 million ($560 million) in December 2016, in the next 12-24 months we don’t expect another major merger in the region. However, the main operators are looking for acquisition of second-tier healthcare businesses that have growth potential. In the education sector, I believe that most of the investment will be in real estate assets through sales and leaseback mode. Q Q