Foundation Holdings to Invest 218 Crore in Healthcare and Education in Bahrain

The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Foundation Holdings, a healthcare and education investment firm with major investments in India and the Gulf including Mumbai-based Edutech firm Toppr, to invest Rs. 218 crore into launching its affiliate companies in Bahrain, including a new state-of-the-art medical centre focused on specialised healthcare and non-communicable diseases.

Mahmood Al Aradi, Chief Investment Officer, Bahrain EDB

This investment into the Kingdom will support Foundation Holdings & EDB’s shared goal of driving meaningful and positive impact in Bahrain’s healthcare and education sectors. The launch of primary care provider Right Health – an affiliate of Foundation Holdings – will be centred around a new research and development centre that, along with a chain of outpatient and diagnostic facilities and pharmacies, will offer a clinical capacity of 150 doctors and nurses capable of serving as many as 500,000 patients annually.

Abhishek Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation Holdings

The agreement also includes launching medical solutions through ProMedEx – another Foundation Holdings affiliate – who will work with the country’s leading private and public hospitals to offer the world’s best-in-class technology orthopaedic and general surgery implants and devices.

The healthcare market in Bahrain has been growing at an annual average rate of 12.2%, from an estimated $1.1 billion in 2015 to an estimated $2.0 billion in 2020 which reflects the growing investment opportunity within this key sector.

Abhishek Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of Foundation Holdings said, “We believe that Bahrain is poised to become a major hub for finance, healthcare, education, technology and innovation and we are proud to partner with Bahrain to enhance the quality of the healthcare and education sectors in the Kingdom and the wider GCC region. We are committed to driving innovation within these critical sectors, to meeting the growing demand for specialised service offerings and to creating jobs to lay the foundation for stronger long-term economic growth.”

“This MoU enables us to establish Bahrain as the regional pioneer for healthcare and education and in turn become the springboard for the entire GCC, attracting foreign direct investment and importing global best practice to enhance and boost Bahrain’s position in the global sphere. The latest technologies of our investee companies like ProMedEx and Right Health will further benefit all residents of Bahrain in addition to creating local jobs, and we look forward to using our talent, scale and experience as an effective private sector partner to make a significant positive impact in the Kingdom.”

Commenting on the partnership, Mahmood Al Aradi, Chief Investment Officer at Bahrain EDB said, “This is a strategic investment that has the potential to unlock significant opportunities for healthcare providers in Bahrain over the coming years.”

“We are extremely pleased to be supporting Foundation Holdings with their plans to enter the Bahrain healthcare market. Our strategic location, our competitive business offering, which includes delivering the best value operating costs in the region, and the growing demand for healthcare services will all play a fundamental role in contributing to the success of the project.”

Foundation Holdings is a global strategic investment firm focused on the healthcare and education sectors in India and the GCC. It currently holds investments in UAE, Saudi Arabia and India. Foundation Holdings will deploy the funds into establishing its portfolio companies in Bahrain, creating 300-500 locally sourced, specialised healthcare jobs in the process. The news of the MoU comes as Bahrain continues to embark on ongoing healthcare reforms as part of its Vision 2030 programme, creating new and expanded opportunities for investors and healthcare providers.