Private equity firm Gulf Capital on Wednesday announced that it has sold its majority stake in ART Fertility Clinics‘s Middle East business to IVI RMA Global, a major reproductive medicine player, for an undisclosed amount.
IVI RMA, a provider of infertility treatment, is backed by KKR & Co, which acquired the company three years ago.
Financial details of the transaction were not made public. Gulf Capital said the deal is expected to generate a significant return on invested capital, making it one of the firm’s most successful exits to date.
ART Fertility, which Gulf Capital acquired in 2020, has since expanded from a UAE-focused operation into a regional player with 15 clinics: three in the UAE, one in Saudi Arabia, and 11 in India.
The sale covers ART’s clinics in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, while the Indian operations will remain under Gulf Capital’s ownership, per the announcement.
Hazem Abu Khalaf, managing director of the healthcare portfolio at Gulf Capital, said the Indian business, which was started just a few years ago, is still growing and maturing.
“The universe of buyers for the Indian business is also different from that of the Middle East business. We want to continue investing in and growing that platform,” Khalaf told DealStreetAsia.
He added that Gulf Capital sees Asia’s healthcare sector as ripe for expansion due to its ability to scale quickly and the growing demand for specialised medical services.
“Specialised healthcare has the ability to scale up quite quickly, with high potential for differentiation for centres of excellence and highly effective and impactful treatment,” Abu Khalaf added.
Under Gulf Capital’s ownership, ART Fertility quadrupled its profitability in five years, driven by rapid geographic expansion and investment in clinical research and genetic testing capabilities.
The Abu Dhabi-based group published over 220 scientific papers and launched a genetic testing lab, contributing to one of the highest IVF success rates globally.
“We are proud of the transformation we achieved at ART Fertility, scaling the platform from a single-country operator to the regional leader in reproductive medicine,” said Dr Karim El Solh, co-founder and CEO of Gulf Capital.
Gulf Capital manages over $2.4 billion in assets across seven funds and investment vehicles. The firm has over 19 years of investment experience from the GCC to the rest of Asia.
Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc contributed to this report.
