JEDDAH – Gulf Capital, one of the leading and most active alternative investment firms in the Middle East based in Abu Dhabi, announced Wednesday that its wholly-owned portfolio company, Techno Group Investment Holdings, acquired a 75 percent strategic stake in Dogu Tip, a major player in outsourced diagnostic imaging (DI) services in Turkey. The acquisition is the firm's first entry into the Turkish healthcare market through its Private Equity division and reflects its strategy of expanding its investment program in the fast-growing healthcare sector. Dogu Tip provides diagnostic imaging solutions to public and private hospitals and clinics in Turkey on an outsourced, turnkey basis. Techno Group already owns controlling stakes in diagnostic imaging companies and operates 34 diagnostic imaging centers in Egypt, Jordan and the Arabian Gulf region. With this new acquisition, the number of Techno Group centers will reach 39, and there are plans on expanding further through acquisitions, organic growth and geographic expansion. Turkey is a major healthcare market that has undergone very rapid transformation and modernization aimed at reaching the levels of developed world healthcare standards, with year-on-year growth of 10.5 percent, higher than the 9.5 percent annual growth in domestic nominal GDP (9.4 percent per year between 2004 and 2009). The country is also a major medical tourism hub for patients from the Middle East region and Europe. Dr. Karim El Solh, Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Capital, said: “The acquisition of Dogu Tip is another major milestone in our drive towards building the largest and most successful diagnostic imaging platform in the region. Besides expanding our geographical footprint into the highly important Turkish healthcare market, it adds to Techno Group the tried-and-tested knowledge and skills needed for the successful delivery of diagnostic imaging services, on outsourced basis to the public and private healthcare sectors.” Turkey has embarked on a highly ambitious plan to outsource many of its medical services and to build mega healthcare projects based on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) business model. The country has a strong PPP program in the healthcare sector, a sector which is expected to rise to around $65 billion in 2014 on the back of increasing the quality and efficiency of the healthcare system, growing health awareness, enhancing access to healthcare facilities, and steady rise in life expectancy, amongst other factors. “The outsourced healthcare models perfected by Dogu Tip will be expanded upon by Techno Group and implemented throughout our region. We aim to positively contribute to delivering efficient and high standard healthcare which are major priorities for the governments and the peoples of the region,” added El Solh. Richard Dallas, Managing Director of Private Equity at Gulf Capital, said: “Dogu Tip meets the criteria we set from the start for Techno Group investments in the healthcare sector. The company operates Turkey-wide, has a successful record in terms of quality of service and financial performance. Techno Group has ambitious plans to take the Dogu Tip's outsourced services model into the rest of the Middle East region and to build on its track record of efficiency to support the Group's overall growth targets.” Nabil Kassem, Managing Director of Operations at Gulf Capital and Techno Group interim CEO, added: “With the acquisition of Dogu Tip we are adding a very strategic component to the Techno Group business model. The company is very well run and has established itself as one of the most reputable players in the outsourced diagnostic imaging market in Turkey. It has the proven capability to grow and to operate across a large geography, where it operates centers spanning the vast breadth of Turkey; from Erzurum in the East to Istanbul in the West. – SG
