DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TVM Capital MENA today announced that it has received the approval of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to start operation of its first regional healthcare growth capital fund with US$40 million of subscriptions from founding investors, Saudi Health Investment Company (SHIC), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and GE Healthcare. TVM Capital MENA Ltd., the fund’s operator, is based in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and is licensed and regulated by the DFSA.

The fund established by TVM Capital MENA is the first healthcare-dedicated fund in the MENA region to be operated by a leading global healthcare and life science manager with a significant track record in the sector. The Fund will seek to capitalise on the substantial growth opportunities in the healthcare service and pharmaceutical/life science sectors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. On the services side, the focus will be on investments in specialised clinics, medical laboratories, small hospitals, diagnostic imaging centres, providers of outsourced services to healthcare delivery facilities, clinical trial management services, and healthcare IT and insurance. On the life science product side, investments will focus on pharmaceutical and other life science product companies that are involved in the licensing, import, manufacture and distribution of medicines, medical devices and diagnostics.

Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO of the DIFC Authority said: “While the current economic environment has posed many challenges, it has also presented several new opportunities for private equity funds. The global financial crisis has shown the need for private equity firms to focus on the fundamental profitability and growth of the companies they invest in. In this light, some of the most exciting opportunities for private equity in the MENA region lie in the healthcare sector. By providing a world-class legal and regulatory framework, DIFC offers a secure and productive platform for private equity firms like TVM Capital MENA to operate their funds and develop their business.”

Kevin Birkett, Executive Director - Asset Management, DIFC Authority said: “DIFC’s commitment to maintain the highest global standards of transparency and integrity has made it a natural base for financial services firms. Funds management is one of the strategic sectors that DIFC is focusing its development efforts on. Over the last few years, DIFC has introduced supportive legislation specifically aimed at tapping the growth potential of this sector in the MENA region. Healthcare represents one of the most promising growth areas for private equity funds in the region and we are keen to provide all the support we can to facilitate the growth of such funds TVM Capital MENA’s healthcare fund.”

Dr. Helmut Schühsler, Chairman of the Board of TVM Capital MENA Ltd. and a Managing Partner of TVM Capital GmbH, Munich said: “The Fund will draw from TVM Capital’s 25 plus years of experience and success in investing in the health market, the firm’s global network in industry and academia as well as the relationships we have built regionally to add significant value to healthcare investment opportunities.”

“Our TVM Capital MENA team will have a strong collaborative relationship with our founding investors. GE Healthcare will add considerable value as a strategic partner to TVM Capital MENA with its expertise in assessing investment opportunities and executing projects in the region. Our relationship with SHIC will translate into an increased presence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other countries, especially in the GCC and Egypt, where SHIC is a leading investor in healthcare services. The IFC has a strong presence in several countries in the region and a large team dedicated to healthcare investments,” He added

A team of professionals led by Managing Director, Marios Fotiadis, will manage operational investment activities, including all deal sourcing, origination, assessments, and deal execution. Fotiadis was a General Partner of TVM Capital in Munich and Boston for two years before taking charge of the MENA investment operations. He has a 14-year background in the industry as an M&A banker and multi-national healthcare investor with Cowen Capital Partners and Advent International. The investment team also includes Youssef Haidar, formerly a Managing Director at Unifund Capital, Abu Dhabi, and strategic partner, Munich Medical International (MMI), represented by Managing Partner, Prof. Dr. Frank Christ. MMI is a Munich and Dubai-based healthcare services advisory firm with substantial operating experience in the region.

Marios Fotiadis said: “We believe there is a substantial investment opportunity in the MENA region, which is experiencing high population and GDP growth, while being chronically undersupplied, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in the healthcare sector. We have fully validated our investment thesis through our ability to develop a robust and proprietary deal flow, and we will shortly be announcing the close of our first two investments.”

To establish operations in Dubai, TVM Capital MENA entered into a joint venture with Boston BioCapital FZ LLC, a Dubai-based advisory firm led by Hoda Abou-Jamra, a founding partner of the Fund. The partnership between the two firms covered the coordination of all start-up activities, access to potential investors, investment opportunities, professionals and advisors in the region as well as general marketing and relationship building.

About DIFC
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is an onshore hub for global finance. It bridges the time gap between the financial centres of Hong Kong and London and services a region with the largest untapped emerging market for financial services. In just four years, over 800 firms have registered at DIFC. They operate in an open environment complemented with world-class regulations and standards. DIFC offers its member institutions incentives such as 100 per cent foreign ownership, zero tax on income and profits and no restrictions on foreign exchange. In addition their business benefits from modern infrastructure, operational support and business continuity facilities of uncompromisingly high standards.

TVM Capital in Healthcare
TVM Capital currently manages committed capital of about 850 million Euros ($1.15bn) for investments in the life sciences and healthcare sector. The TVM Capital healthcare and life science team builds on the expertise, experience, international approach and demonstrated success in more than 110 previous life sciences investments and more than 70 exits, including almost 40 IPOs from our portfolio of companies. Twenty years of successful investing and value creation, in traditional early and late-stage venture as well as growth capital, make TVM Capital a preferred partner for rapidly growing companies in the life science and healthcare industry. For more than 20 years, our business has been to invest in the growth of exciting companies who are or aspire to be leaders in their market segment, and to be resourceful and supportive strategic partners to founders and managers alike.

TVM Capital
TVM Capital is an international growth and venture capital firm with a focus investing in the growth of companies through innovation, international market access, capital efficiency and operational excellence. The firm has a 25-year investing track record in the European and U.S. markets derived from more than 260 investments in a broad range of companies in the life science / healthcare and information technology fields. From this portfolio, the firm exited from about 200 companies to date. The highly innovation driven investment focus of TVM Capital has led to specialized, focused industry teams and dedicated industry funds to serve the target markets best.

TVM Capital is Private Equity International’s “German Private Equity Firm of the Year 2008”, was ranked 18^th in the list of the leading 100 venture capital companies in the world by Red Herring Magazine in September 2009, and received the M&A Advisor Corporate/Strategic Acquisition of the Year Award in December 2009 for the $300 million acquisition of portfolio company Direvo Biotech AG by Bayer HealthCare AG in September 2008.

For more information, please visit: www.tvm-capital.ae

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