Georgia Healthcare plans to raise £65m in London IPO
Tblisi-based medical insurer Georgia Healthcare has announced plans to raise $100m (£65m) by listing its ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The healthcare service and medical insurance provider – Georgia's largest – is a subsidiary of the Bank of Georgia, which has been listed on London's blue-chip index since 2006.
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It intends to use the money raised to improve service efficiency and develop new medical technologies. Georgia Healthcare expects its revenues to more than double by 2018 under its expansion plans.
Citigroup Global Markets and Jefferies International will be joint financial advisers and joint global coordinators of the deal.
Nikoloz Gamkrelidze, the company's chief executive, said:
The IPO on the LSE premium segment will enable us to finance our immediate growth plans and if necessary provide access to capital markets for our future growth.
It will enhance the group’s profile with investors, business partners and patients. This move will increase the ability of the Group to attract and retain key management, physicians and other employees, and diversify the shareholder base of the Company. It will also help to provide improved healthcare services to the Georgian population.
Georgia Healthcare is the latest foreign healthcare company to be attracted by the prospect of listing in London – over the last three years, Abu Dhabi's NMC Health and Russia's MD Medical Group both raised millions on the LSE.