Friday 19 February 2016

UAE's Aster DM Healthcare plans stake sale via listing, private deal | Reuters

UAE's Aster DM Healthcare plans stake sale via listing, private deal | Reuters:

"United Arab Emirates-based Aster DM Healthcare is seeking to sell a minority stake this year either through a stock market flotation or a deal with a private investor, its chairman told Reuters on Thursday.

The company runs hospitals, clinics and pharmacies across the Gulf and India and is benefiting from a booming healthcare market in the UAE and other areas of the Gulf due to the introduction of mandatory health insurance schemes. A growing and increasingly wealthy population also means that cases of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes are rising sharply.

This has attracted significant interest from both public and private investors: shares in NMC Health, a UAE-based competitor of Aster DM, have risen nearly fourfold since listing in London in 2012, while the sector has seen a number of mergers and acquisitions. The biggest was the recent $2.2 billion takeover of Al Noor Hospitals, another UAE competitor, by South Africa's Mediclinic International."



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Sweett Group Told to Pay $3.3 Million in U.K. Bribery Case - Bloomberg Business

Sweett Group Told to Pay $3.3 Million in U.K. Bribery Case - Bloomberg Business:

"Sweett Group Plc, the first company to be convicted under new U.K. bribery laws, was ordered to pay about 2.3 million pounds ($3.3 million) at a sentencing hearing in London.
The U.K. construction company was accused of paying bribes to win contracts in the Middle East and pleaded guilty to the charge in December. The penalties issued by Judge Martin Beddoe Friday included a 1.4 million-pound fine and the return of about 850,000 pounds in benefits derived from the illegal payments.
The outcome is a rare victory for the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, which had faced criticism in recent years for failing to secure any corporate convictions under new U.K. bribery laws enacted in 2011. The change saw all major businesses invest millions of pounds on revamping their compliance procedures."



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