Kuwait seeks new offers for health co stake sale

Kuwait seeks new offers for health co stake sale

Kuwait is seeking new offers for a stake in its $1.15 billion healthcare project Kuwait Health Assurance Co (KHAC), bidder Agility said on Wednesday.

March 14, 2012 1:51 by Reuters

Agility had already bid about 25.6 million Kuwait dinars ($91.7 million) to acquire a minority stake in KHAC in December, but that offer appears to have been rejected.

“Company officials were informed that (Kuwait) intends to retender in the hopes of obtaining a better financial premium,” Agility said in a statement to the Dubai bourse, on which it is also listed.

KHAC is a project envisioned in Kuwait’s five-year development plan and aims to privatise expatriate health insurance and associated medical care. The project also includes plans to build and operate three new hospitals and 15 health clinics in the Gulf state.

The company is being set up with a capital of 318 million dinars ($1.15 billion) and the required equity to establish the firm is 30 percent, Agility said in an earlier statement.

Strategic investors are required to bid for a quarter of the 30 percent equity capital contribution.

Agility’s shares were down 2.4 percent on the Kuwait bourse at 0632 GMT. (Reporting by Matt Smith)