Africa’s largest healthcare investment platform launches

A new healthcare investment platform has launched to invest in hospitals, diagnostic facilities, pharmaceuticals and digital healthcare in Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Nile Misr Healthcare has been established by Misr Capital, the investment arm of Banque Misr, and Elevate Private Equity. The $380 million fund is Africa’s largest private equity healthcare platform. 

The partnership has a strong track record of investing in healthcare; Elevate Private Equity, founded in 1995, manages diagnostic network Nile Scan & Labs Co, considered one of the largest and fastest growing diagnostics networks in Egypt and MENA. Since Elevate assumed the strategic management of Nile Scan & Labs, the group managed to take the largest market share of oncology diagnostics in Africa, as well as securing an academic partnership with London’s Imperial College.

There has been growing investor interest in Egyptian healthcare in recent years. The country boasts a strong workforce with a large number of doctors and specialists, and the cost to invest is appealing globally. Additionally the pandemic highlighted that much of Egypt's healthcare services are concentrated in Cairo and other main cities, with opportunities to develop new services in other areas. 

Commenting on opportunities in the domestic market, Khalil El Bawab, CEO of Misr Capital said: “Egypt has a growing middle class, and the country is witnessing a continuous increase in private medical insurance penetration. 

"Furthermore, the government’s ambitious goal to cover all Egyptians under a universal health insurance program over the next fifteen years in partnership with the WHO makes this strategic move come at a very opportune time for Misr Capital as we embark on our journey to enter the healthcare investments space.”