GroupMed mulls
selling shares in IPO

Khawaja completes

acquisition of 42.2 percent stake

GroupMed Holding, the owner of Bankmed, is considering launching an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its shares in the near future, said Alaa Al Khawaja, a new shareholder in the company.

Khawaja said that his acquisition of 42.24 percent stake in GroupMed “will pave the way for increasing and diversifying the ownership structure of GroupMed which could result in an IPO in the near future.”

After obtaining the Central Bank’s approval, Khawaja completed the acquisition of the stake, through his company OLT Holding, from Ayman Rafic Hariri, the Prime Minister’s brother.

GroupMed was valued at nearly $1.27 billion, meaning the price paid by OLT Holding for the stake was around $535 million.

Post-acquisition, the current shareholders in GroupMed are Prime Minister Saad Hariri who holds a stake of 42.24 percent, OLT Holding’s 42.24 percent stake, and the remaining 15.5 percent held by Nazek Hariri, the widow of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

GroupMed holds investments in seven countries in the Middle East and Europe in the banking, insurance, real estate, and manufacturing sectors, as well as in some services.