Exit Readiness Diagnostic
Twelve to eighteen months out: the exposures a buyer will find, found first and fixed on your clock.
Sell-Side M&A
Selling a healthcare business in the UAE: you sell once, and the preparation sets the price.
Most owners sell one business in a lifetime; the buyer across the table has bought ten. That asymmetry is where value leaks. We prepare the business before it goes to market, run a competitive process, and hold the buyer's diligence to the same standard the buyer holds you to, so the price agreed at the letter of intent is the price paid at close.
Who engages this
Founders and families who own clinics, clinic groups, hospitals, pharmacies, distribution businesses, or pharma assets in the UAE and wider GCC. Some have decided to exit; others have received an unsolicited approach and need to know what the business is worth before they answer it. We also act for owners selling a stake rather than the whole, where governance and exit rights matter as much as price.
The work
What this practice takes on.
Pre-Mandate Valuation
What the business supports today, and which specific actions move the number before you go to market.
Licence & Change-of-Control
DHA, DOH, and MOHAP pre-approvals sequenced early, so regulatory timing never stalls the deal.
Data Room & Information Memorandum
Investor-grade materials that answer the second question before it is asked.
Buyer Mapping & Competitive Tension
Strategics, PE, and family offices approached in a structured process, not one negotiation at a time.
Negotiation to SPA
Price, warranties, earn-outs, and completion accounts negotiated by a principal, not handed to juniors.
Phased Sell-Down
Selling in stages where it beats one clean exit: structure, triggers, and control points.
Family & Succession Sales
Exits inside a family shareholding, with the charter and governance to survive the transaction.
On a mandate
The founder of a Dubai clinic group received an unsolicited offer and asked us whether to take it. Our diagnostic found the group was reporting EBITDA before normalising owner remuneration and a related-party lease, and that one payer contract was six weeks from renewal. We normalised the numbers, renewed the contract, and opened the process to three further buyers. The business sold eleven months later to a strategic acquirer at a headline value 31% above the original approach.
Questions
What clients ask first.
When should I start preparing to sell?
Twelve to eighteen months before you want a signed deal. Licence conditions, payer contract renewals, audited numbers, and key-person dependencies all take quarters, not weeks, to fix, and every one of them is cheaper to fix before a buyer prices it against you.
What is my clinic or hospital worth?
UAE healthcare businesses trade across a wide multiple range, and where you land depends on payer mix and concentration, licence transferability, clinical staff retention, and the quality of your numbers, more than on the headline revenue. We give a base, upside, and downside view with the assumptions labelled, never a single flattering number.
I have already received an offer. Do I still need an advisor?
An unsolicited offer tells you a buyer sees value; it does not tell you the price is right. A single-buyer negotiation is the weakest position a seller can occupy. The first thing we establish is what the business supports, and whether a structured process would beat the offer on the table.
Will running a sale process disrupt my business or alert my staff?
A properly run process is confidential by design: staged disclosure, coded materials, and NDAs before any identifying information moves. Most staff learn of a transaction when you choose to tell them.
If you are considering an exit, or holding an offer you are unsure about, start with a conversation with a principal.