By Cyber Era Staff

Africa’s largest mezzanine fund manager, Vantage Capital has announced that it has made a US$28.0 million equity investment to acquire a significant minority shareholding in the Cliniques Internationales du Maroc Group (“CIM Santé Group”). The business was founded in 1994 by Professor Assad Chaara, an internationally renowned cardiologist who pioneered coronary angiography and catheterisation in Morocco, and the company has since grown into one of Morocco’s leading healthcare groups.

CIM Santé Group is made up of the following entities:

• The Heart and Vascular Diseases Clinic established in 1994 in Rabat (20 beds, 2 theatres);
• The International Clinic of Marrakech created in 2011 in Marrakech (100 beds, 5 theatres); and
• The International Clinic of Tangier, currently under development and expected to be fully operational in Q4 2020 (200 beds, 10 theatres).
• CIM Santé Group also owns radiology centres, medical laboratories and laundry service companies in Marrakech and Tangier.

Vantage’s funding will enable the founding family to part-finance the extension of the existing clinic in Marrakech and the opening of new clinics in Tangier and Casablanca. Thereafter, CIM Santé Group plans to further strengthen its position in the Moroccan market by adding more clinics to its portfolio as well as entering new markets in the rest of Africa.

Founder of CIM Santé Group, Pf. Assad Chaara commented, “I am delighted to have witnessed the continued growth of CIM Santé Group over the past years. After helping to create a world-class centre of excellence in cardiology in Morocco, I am proud to pass the torch to my son Dr. Fahd Chaara who will work hand-in-hand with Vantage to further expand the CIM franchise.”

CEO of CIM Santé Group, Dr. Fahd Chaara added, “We feel that, with Vantage’s financial support and strategic guidance, we are up for the challenge of building on the wonderful legacy created by my father and developing Morocco’s finest private sector health group, housing a broad range of medical disciplines and covering all of the Kingdom’s major cities. With Vantage we will also investigate the opportunity of expanding the business into West Africa in the next few years.”

This transaction represents Vantage Capital’s 30th transaction across three generations of mezzanine funds with its portfolio of investments spread across ten countries in Africa. Much of Vantage’s focus has been on ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ infrastructure which has included a power business in Ghana, gas distribution in Cote d’Ivoire, mixed-use developments in Nigeria and Mauritius and fibre-optics businesses in South Africa. CIM provides the opportunity for Vantage to contribute meaningfully to the further development of the Moroccan private healthcare sector by funding the opening of new world-class hospitals in Morocco and in the region. CIM Santé Group is Vantage’s second investment in Morocco after its investment in Equity Invest, an IT group last year, and its third in Francophone Africa.

Managing Partner at Vantage Capital, Luc Albinski noted that “Vantage is proud to have concluded its largest growth-capital investment to date. It is always pleasing when our funds are applied towards building new, leading-edge infrastructure in Africa whether it takes the form of power plants, fibre networks or hospitals. But given the impact that world-class health care can have on patients and on their families, in many cases saving lives that would prematurely succumb to heart disease and other medical conditions, this investment, at this time, with the COVID epidemic raging, is a source of great joy and pride for the Vantage team.”

Associate Partner at Vantage Capital, Driss Benabdeslam added, “We are proud to partner with the highly-regarded Chaara family and contribute with our funds and our ideas to the further growth of the Group. We are confident that in a few years’ time, CIM Santé Group will be one of the biggest private multi-disciplinary healthcare groups in Morocco.”

Clifford Chance (in Morocco) acted as legal counsel to Vantage. Asafo (in Morocco) acted as legal counsel to CIM Holding. Deloitte (in Morocco) and Webber Wentzel (in South Africa) provided tax advice, Deloitte (in Morocco) was the financial advisor, Strategy& (part of the PwC network in Morocco) provided commercial advice, and Ibis Consulting (in South Africa) reviewed the environmental impact.