Swedfund invests in East African healthcare company

Swedfund invests 3 MUSD in AAR Healthcare to accelerate growth and to increase accessibility and service offerings in East Africa.

The healthcare market in Kenya and East Africa is growing. The number of registered doctors has grown annually with 4.5% and registered nurses annually by 33% in Kenya since 2008 according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2012.

The urban population in East Africa requires high quality of medical service, high availability and short waiting times. With the investment from Swedfund AAR Healthcare will expand with several new clinics geographically increasing healthcare accessibility in East Africa, and expand service offerings to further increase quality of service to customers.

AAR Healthcare has over 25 years of experience operating as a leading healthcare provider in East Africa. The company was founded in 1984 by the late Bengt Beckmann, a Swedish citizen. Today the company operates 24 clinics throughout Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The company today employs 350 people. The expansion will enable the company to employ another 300 people in the next 3 years.

Quality is high priority for AAR Healthcare both when treating patients and for staff working for AAR Healthcare. The company has dedicated training programs for clinical staff and applies WHO guidelines.

- We are happy to be part of expanding AAR Healthcare, a leading quality healthcare provider in East Africa. The focus on quality, accessibility, and valuable service offerings to customers allows AAR to serve East Africans and with the expansion provide even more services, says Tomas Bie, Senior Investment Manager at Swedfund.

The biggest shareholder of AAR today is IFHA. IFHA was established in 2007; a venture capital fund dedicated to investments in private healthcare companies in Africa. IFHA is backed by FMO, IFC, the African Development Bank (AfDB), Pfizer, Goldman Sachs, APG pension fund and Social Investor Foundation for Africa (SIFA).

Contact person at Swedfund:

Tomas Bie, Senior Investment Manager, Swedfund, +46 8 725 94 00, tomas.bie@swedfund.se

Contact person at AAR Healthcare:

Mark Achola, CEO of AAR Healthcare, +254 20 2895000, machola@aar.co.ke