IHH Healthcare’s 90%-owned Turkiye firm plans to expand in Europe

It seeks to attract more foreign patients to boost profit.

Acibadem Saglik YatirimlariHolding AS, 90%-owned by IHH Healthcare, is seeking to expand its presence in Europe and to lure more international patients to maintain profitability “amidst the severe devaluation of the Turkish lira from hyperinflation.”

Acibadem’s founder and chairman Mehmet Ali Aydinlar said their management will “pay attention to profitable acquisition targets.

“We are not going to make small investments; we are going to make mid-to-large scale investments. We have many opportunities, we are evaluating them, trying to know which one is the best,” he said.

Currently, there are 25 hospitals under Acibadem, 19 of them within Türkiye and the rest in four other European countries: Netherlands, Bulgaria, Serbia and North Macedonia.

Its Turkiye operations were also hit by the February earthquake which struck 10 provinces in the market.

The recently concluded presidential and parliamentary elections have weighed on Acibadem's business volume.

Aydinlar also expects economic conditions to improve after the local elections in March 2024.

For the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023), IHH’s net profit slumped 50.7% to RM301.83m from RM612.10m a year ago as earnings were impacted by foreign exchange losses following the Turkish lira’s devaluation.

But, revenue for the quarter was higher, expanding 6.9% to RM4.67b from RM4.37b, as the group saw more patients across its markets.

Net profit for the first half (1HFY2023) grew 53.1% to RM1.69b from RM1.10b in the previous corresponding period, attributed to a one-off gain from the sale of IMU Health Sdn Bhd which was completed in March.