NMC Health gets operating reprieve with $250 mln loan

Hospital operator NMC Health has secured a $250 million financing facility which will allow it to continue to provide healthcare, its administrators Alvarez & Marsal said.

The loan is conditional on a planned second-phase restructuring, Alvarez & Marsal said on Monday, after its London-listed holding company was forced into administration in April following months of financial turmoil.

The administrators said the restructuring would allow the funding to support operations and stop adverse creditor actions.

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Sources have told Reuters that NMC’s UAE entity is considering applying for insolvency under the jurisdiction of Abu Dhabi Global Markets to obtain protection from creditors, a process which is similar to Chapter 11.

Last month Reuters reported that NMC Health, the largest private healthcare provider in the UAE, was raising $250 million in so-called debtor-in-possession financing.

The administrators said Perella Weinberg Partners had been appointed to explore the potential sale of its international businesses and advise on restructuring alternatives.

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The conditions of the financing, to be provided by NMC’s leading lenders, will be met by the start of the second-phase restructuring and as NMC starts a three-year business plan, which includes the potential sale of international businesses.

This has a “focused strategy” for continued growth of core businesses in the UAE, the administrators said, adding all NMC Health hospitals, medical centers, care facilities and other operations will continue to operate as they have to date.

“The next phase ... will see an increased focus on identifying and holding to account those responsible for the illegal and fraudulent actions which created this situation and still pose a threat to the group and its stakeholders,” Richard Fleming, Managing Director of Alvarez & Marsal Europe and joint administrator of NMC Health said.