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Regulator allows Swiss firm's 32pc eye hospital buy

cak

Mr Wang’ombe Kariuki, Competition Authority of Kenya boss. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL

The Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) has approved acquisition of a 32.5 per cent stake in Kenyan hospital chain City Eye Hospital by Swiss-based asset manager LGT, the largest family-owned private wealth and asset manager in Europe.

CAK in a gazette notice dated September 24 gave the go-ahead for the transaction indicating the LGT stake in City Eye will not negatively affect competition in the local health care sector.

“…the Competition Authority of Kenya excludes the proposed acquisition of 32.5 per cent of the shares with certain veto rights in City Eye Hospital Ltd by LGT Capital Invest Mauritius PCC Cell E/VP from the provisions of part four of the Act,” said CAK director-general Wang’ombe Kariuki.

“The transaction will not affect competition negatively. It meets the threshold for exclusion under the merger threshold guidelines.”

City Eye, established over two years ago, says its annual turnover in 2017 was Sh62 million. The hospital provides outpatient services, diagnosis, treatment and counselling but also theatre for minor and major surgery.

“Since we opened our doors in June 2015, we have achieved remarkable milestones, including growing our outpatient volume by four-fold, performing over 1,000 cataract surgeries, and developed a robust outreach programme that offers free eye screening and care products like eye drops and glasses at a discounted price,” it says on its website.

“The outreach programme has screened over 21,000 people for eye related conditions in just two years.”

The Swiss firm, through its Mauritius registered unit, also got a nod to acquire a 32.5 per cent stake in King Medical Supplies, a Kenyan based medicines supplies firm with an annual turnover of Sh20.9 million.

The two transactions give LGT a foothold in the East Africa region.

LGT Capital Partners is an alternative investment manager with about $60 billion (Sh6.1trn) of capital invested in investment funds, hedge funds and private equity investments.