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9.2 Major corporate news 9.2.1 Healthcare corporate news
Georgia Healthcare Group delists from LSE
Georgia Capital investment company’s H1 results show rebound in revenues across all portfolio companies
Georgian Healthcare Group (GHG), the biggest private provider of healthcare services in Georgia, has been delisted from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after its main shareholder, Georgia Capital, made a buyout offer.
According to GHG’s website, the decision to withdraw was made by the company on July 8, although it came into force on August 5.
GHG has become a privately-held company. Its shares were fully redeemed by Georgia Capital, which previously owned a 70.6% stake in the group.
Under the offer made by Georgia Capital, GHG shareholders receive one share of Georgia Capital for every five shares of GHG.
The deadline for the exchange of shares was June 30.
GHG was listed in the premium category on the LSE in 2015. It includes healthcare services providers such as Evex and Imedi L, as well as pharmaceutical companies.
"It was a very positive development as liquidity was maintained, as GHG shareholders received shares in Georgia Capital, which is much higher in liquidity," commented Otmar Antia, an analyst at PMCG consulting firm. Recently, the liquidity of shares of Georgian Healthcare Group has decreased; however, if you look at the financial data of the company, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, the equity was still quite solid, Antia noted.
Georgia Capital investment management company’s first-half financial results show a “rebound in revenues across all portfolio companies from April’s lows, resulting in 11% y-o-y aggregated revenue growth in June”, the Tbilisi-headquartered group said on August 20.
In a commentary on the results, the management stated: “The strength and resilience of our defensive business portfolio has once again been confirmed by the rapid rebound of revenue streams at the end of the [coronavirus pandemic] lockdown and thereafter. Following the completion of the Offer for GHG [Georgia Healthcare Group] shareholders in 3Q20, our private portfolio has been further strengthened with addition of three strong overarching free cash flow generative businesses across Healthcare Services, Pharmacy and Distribution, and Medical Insurance.
“We expect to apply our private portfolio valuation methodology to each of these three businesses starting from 3Q20 results and have engaged an external worldwide recognized valuation services provider firm to perform the valuation.”
In the first half, the Georgia Capital “portfolio company aggregated operating cash flow generation was up 96.0% y-o-y to GEL [Georgian lari] 179.8 million in 1H20 and up 57.7% y-o-y in 2Q20 to GEL 87.7 million”.
Aggregated cash balances of the portfolio companies stood at GEL282mn at June 30 as against GEL183mn at December 31, 2019.
NAV per share was up 4.9% in 2Q20, while it was down 32.4% in 1H20 reflecting the negative impact of COVID-19 on listed asset prices and LTM multiple-based valuations of private assets, the company said.
56 GEORGIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com
