Middle Eastern private investment and advisory firm Injazat Capital is launching a $100 million Islamic-compliant healthcare fund this month.
Known as the Shefa Fund, it will have a unique structure. “The healthcare industry in the region is largely owned by doctors,” says Hussein Rifai, chief executive of Injazat Capital, “but often these doctors’ families do not want to continue in the business. We will take a hospital and separate the real estate from the healthcare provision, buy the healthcare [tranche] and create a single management company.”
The hospital owners can either keep the real estate themselves or it can be placed in a separate real estate fund. The fund will then lease the real estate back.
This approach will allow Shefa to invest in more hospitals than would otherwise have been possible. It should enable it to bring around 10 hospitals under its umbrella, so creating a strong healthcare brand across the Middle East and North Africa and achieving economies of scale.
Healthcare in the region is worth $35 billion. It is changing rapidly as a result of the increased awareness and knowledge of patients and a combination of the implementation of mandatory medical insurance in some countries and government initiatives to privatize the sector.