This article is the second installment in a series of three introducing the investor Ahmed Badreldin his main portfolio companies, RMBV, Cleopatra Holdings Company and Taaleem.  In our podcast, Thndr Claps with Waya, we will be asking Badreldin your most pressing investment questions. Send your questions to [email protected] and say tuned for more. 

Cleopatra Hospitals Group is Egypt’s largest hospital group, by number of hospital beds and number of operating hospitals. The group, directed by Ahmed Badreldin, is a public company listed on the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX), and is one of RMBV’s (link to RMBV) main investments.

Cleopatra Hospitals Group is Egypt’s first hospital group. The group was established with the goal of making quality healthcare services widely available across the country. It built a strong market position through its commitment to building a unified healthcare system across its hospital and out-patient clinics.

The group is on a mission to become the health provider of choice in Egypt through a clearly defined growth strategy that revolves around the geographical expansion to penetrate new segments of the population via an integrated one-stop-shop platform that drives efficiency enhancements and quality improvements. It does this by managing the hospitals with the help of experts and technocrats within the field. Through the unified system, the hospitals have a unified client database and can provide clients with affordable quality healthcare.

To kick-off, the group started by acquiring two hospitals Cleopatra Hospital, founded in 1984, and Cairo Specialized Hospital, founded in 1976. These separate entities, originally family-owned businesses, became the first two hospitals under the Cleopatra Hospitals Group in 2014. Later, the group acquired more hospitals. It acquired Nile Badrawi Hospital in 2015 and Al Shorouk Hospital in 2016. Its latest two acquisitions were El Khatib and Queens Hospital. The Group also operates two polyclinics located in strategic neighborhoods of East and West Cairo and holds a majority stake in Bedaya for Medical Services, Egypt’s leading IVF and Fertility Centre.

Cleopatra Hospitals Group has invested more than EGP 1 billion in quality, infrastructure, and medical technology development since 2015. With these funds the company has updated the tech and infrastructure in the facilities it has acquired so they are in tandem with global standards. The group procures equipment from top medical equipment manufacturers including General Electric, Phillips, and Siemens, to allow patients to receive the best possible treatments for their ailments.

The hospital group has employed 5000+ staff members and treats 1.3 million patients a year, Omar Elimam, Partner at RMBV said to WAYA. The pandemic affected these numbers, however, the company found ways to make up for its losses.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the hospital group has allocated its two most recently acquired hospitals, El Katib and Queens Hospitals, to serve as COVID-19 isolation and treatment hospitals. With this strategy, both facilities are recording growing revenues with healthy margins in line with Group’s more established facilities.

RMBV’s involvement has managed to turn independent doctor-led hospitals into a unified hospital group. This entity is a more sustainable and lucrative business that provides patients with a more encompassing healthcare system.