UAE-based healthcare major Aster is working on new strategies to enhance cost and operational efficiencies,its founder has told Arabian Business.
The discussions come as management are keen to discover the true value of the company for its shareholders, said Dr Azad Moopen, founder chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare.
“About 80 percent of our business comes from the GCC market and 20 percent from India. Paradoxically we are not getting the true value of our (overall) business reflected in the market valuation of our company listed on the Indian stock exchanges,” he told Arabian Business.
“We are trying to convince the investors (of the listed company in India) to realise the true value of the company, but if it is not happening, we may have to work on other options to discover the true value of the stock as we go forward,” Moopen said. He, however, did not elaborate on the details of the proposed plans.
He added that of late there has been a surge in the share price of the Aster DH Healthcare on the Indian bourses, though he agreed that it could also because of healthcare companies being favoured by investors because of the Covid pandemic.
Dr Azad Moopen, founder chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare
“Initially when we listed our company in India two-and-half years ago, we thought we would wait for sometime before going in for an overseas listing,” he said.
“We could look at it again now, though no time line has been thought about for it yet.”
He also agreed that investors in the GCC could value the company more as the lion’s share of the group’s businesses is in the region.
The $1.2 billion Aster Group, which began its journey in Dubai with a single clinic in 1987, now operates a global network of 355 healthcare facilities spread over seven countries.
Aster also announced on Tuesday its plans to expand operations to the western hemisphere with a tertiary and quaternary care hospital in Cayman Islands.
Moopen also told Arabian Business that he is also mulling a personal transition over the next few years by relinquishing his executive powers to focus on the long-term growth strategies as the chairman.
On his plans for a succession in the company management, Moopen said his eldest daughter Alisha Moopen, as the deputy MD of the company, is already hands on and driving all operations. He added that he wanted to gradually withdraw to a non-executive role to oversee all long-term growth plans of the group.
Alisha Moopen, deputy managing director at Aster DM Healthcare
“Though I haven’t decided on a definite time period (for the transition), it may happen in the next 3-5 years,” he said.
Besides Alisha, Dr Moopen has two more daughters, Ziham Moopen and Dr Zeba Moopen.
“Ziham is more interested in the education sector – runs few nursery schools now – so if she is interested to pursue the sector from a business point of view, we could think of making more investments in the sector. We already have a medical college, which is under a Foundation and not part of the listed company.
“As for Zeba, she is a medical doctor – still apprenticing with Aster – and she will definitely be involved with our healthcare business. She could be driving the digital transformation of the company,” Moopen said.
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