Dubai, UAE, 22 December 2014: Healthcare investing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region could be be fuelled as global investors increasingly look to make a social impact while generating attractive returns, according to speakers at a conference organized by private equity firm TVM Capital Healthcare Partners attended by over 100 healthcare and finance executive.

The healthcare sector in the MENA region is one of the fastest growing globally, which means that investment have a substantial impact on the economy at large and are likely to deliver societal benefits.“There is potential here to unlock significant amounts of capital and to combine doing well and doing good.”, Hoda Abou-Jamra, a Founding Partner at TVM Capital Healthcare Partners said. “Quality and access are key. We have teamed up with world leading healthcare institutions in the UK and the US to safeguard highest quality standards, achieve accreditation and to elevate our healthcare portfolio companies to be local centers of healthcare excellence.”

TVM Capital Healthcare Partners is currently managing a healthcare fund investing in the MENA region and India, which has raised capital from renowned international partners such as the International Finance Corporation, GE Healthcare and Olayan Group. The firm undertakes quarterly social and environmental audits for every portfolio company and concentrates particularly on improving the quality of life of patients. The conference ended with a speech and art exhibition by Yusra Yasser Mayouf Alhattali, a resident at ProVita International Medical Center. Her speech and arts exhibition can be viewed here. ProVita is a TVM Capital Healthcare Partners portfolio company that provides care for patients who require mechanical breathing assistance. Over half of ProVita’s patients in the UAE are children who in many cases were previously occupying scarce ICU beds in non-specialist hospitals, others have been brought back from specialised treatment overseas to be closer to their families in the country.

According to a JPMorgan survey this year, around $40 billion has been invested globally in the last five years by investors who aim to generate a measurable and positive social or environmental impact alongside a financial return. The trend is gaining ground, with $12.7 billion of capital deployed this year, compared with just $2.5 billion in 2010.

TVM Capital Healthcare Partners, together with co-investors, has invested more than $110 million in the region’s healthcare industry in areas of tremendous unmet clinical and medical need. As of December 2014, its five portfolio companies had 1,200 employees, 40 percent of whom are females. The firm applies Social and Environmental Management Systems for its investments in accordance with World Bank and IFC rules.

TVM Capital Healthcare Partners has invested in IVF (in vitro fertilisation) clinics in the UAE and India, and is finalizing the process of acquiring a medical device company in Egypt. It has also invested in three long-term care companies based in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and other parts of the UAEand has established clinical partnerships with two U.S.-based Harvard Medical School affiliates: long-term care and rehabilitation specialist Spaulding Rehabilitation Network as well as diabetes research centre, Joslin Diabetes Center, to ensure high quality service and best practices.

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About TVM Capital Healthcare Partners
TVM Capital Healthcare Partners was established in 2009 under the name TVM Capital MENA and has since then been led by Chairman & CEO, Dr. Helmut M. Schuehsler. The firm is focusing on making highly specialised growth capital and small buyout investments in healthcare companies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and India that are or target to become leaders in their regional markets.

The firm has assembled a strong team of investment professionals who are supported by a group of healthcare operators as executives-in-residence in its accelerator company, TVM Operations Group, and TVM Healthcare Advisors, which provides healthcare focused research and advisory services. Collectively, this team has developed an ability to conceptualise and develop business opportunities that provide investors with completely proprietary deal flow and investment opportunities.

TVM Capital Healthcare Partners has broken new ground with four portfolio investments to date in specialized services that were either non-existent or drastically undersupplied, e.g., long-term care, rehabilitation, home care and world-class fertility treatment. A fifth investment focuses on the area of medical device development and manufacturing. The firm operates out of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and is licensed and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).

TVM Capital Healthcare Partners is part of TVM Capital Group, an affiliation of globally acting venture capital and private equity firms with an operating track record of 30 years. TVM Capital Group has financed more than 130 healthcare and life science companies and has documented its success as a growth capital investor through 45 initial public offerings from its portfolio. www.tvm-capital.com or www.tvm-capital.ae