4 Africa Exchange Proprietary (4AX), a licensed equity and debt exchange, has announced the imminent listings of iHealthcare Group and iHealthcare Group Holdings with effect from 13 December 2019.
4AX CEO Eugene Booysen comments: “We are thrilled to have secured these two listings and welcome the iHealthcare Group companies onboard. This has proven to be another tough year for business and the economy, and particularly for new listings. However, the listings of the iHealthcare Group companies prove that considerable investment and business growth opportunities are burgeoning in South Africa.”
Dr Pieter Odendaal, joint chief executive of iHealthcare Group, says: “Our mission, which is backed by our business growth strategy, is to offer cost-effective, high quality healthcare to all South African citizens.
“While our distribution business, which sources niche medical and surgical equipment and devices, is well established and will continue to grow, two other components that are critical to successfully achieving our mission and driving the future growth of our business are onboarding more doctor-partners and expanding the healthcare facility assets.
“As part of our business growth and expansion strategy, we already have acquisitions of healthcare facilities in the pipeline for 2020, and the capital for this will be raised on 4AX,” he adds.
“Also, the listing of iHealthcare Group Holdings Limited will give us direct access to doctor-partners who want to join the business and contribute to charting a way forward for the future of healthcare in South Africa.”
iHealthcare Group Holdings is an investment company that is owned and controlled by medical practitioners and whose sole asset on listing will be a 66% interest in iHealthcare Group. The listing of iHealthcare Group Holdings will be by introduction, so no shares will be issued to the public and trading will be restricted to qualifying medical practitioners.
iHealthcare Group is a medical distribution company that imports and – through its network of operating subsidiaries – provides a range of medical and surgical equipment, devices and pharmaceuticals, to its customers mainly in the ophthalmology market, but other markets in healthcare too.
iHealthcare Group will also list on 4AX by introduction and will be freely tradeable, so no restrictions will apply to these shares.
Dr Alic Jacobz, joint chief executive of iHealthcare Group, says: “The listings create shareholding opportunities to the healthcare market in South Africa – as well as providing us with the means of accessing capital to tap into investment opportunities and expanding our business into other segments of the healthcare market.
“Our vision is to bring down the cost of private healthcare in South Africa by providing the best quality and most cost-effective medical and surgical equipment and devices. Also, as we look to expand our business through acquiring private medical facilities and hospitals, this will also enable us to expand our practise of high-quality care at lower cost to all patients across the care spectrum,” adds Jacobz.