NASSAU, Bahamas — Doctors Hospital is planning to offer at least a 40 percent collective ownership stake to Grand Bahamians in the $15m-$20m hospital it plans to open on that island by the 2022 second quarter, The Tribune reported on Tuesday, August 3, in an article written by Business Editor Neil Hartnell.
Dennis Deveaux, the BISX-listed healthcare provider’s chief financial officer, told Tribune Business that Grand Bahama residents “should expect to start hearing” about how they can acquire an equity interest in the new hospital by October 2021.
Disclosing that the facility will create between 90-100 direct jobs “at full maturity”, he disclosed that construction work on the building identified for the Grand Bahama hospital will begin in the same month as details about the share offering are likely to be released.
Arguing that Grand Bahama’s healthcare needs mean “we don’t have the luxury of a two-three year build-out”, Mr Deveaux acknowledged that details regarding the offering of a large minority equity stake are still being worked out – including timing, share price and whether it will take the form of an initial public offering (IPO) or private placement.
Revealing that up to a 49 percent collective ownership interest could be offered, he explained that it would initially only be made available to Grand Bahama and “northern Bahamas” residents. If any shares remain, they would then be offered to retail investors (individuals) throughout The Bahamas and only opened up to institutions in a final third phase in a bid to achieve the broadest possible ownership.
“It’s no secret that we’re looking to put a full in-patient hospital in Grand Bahama,” Mr Deveaux told this newspaper. “That project has received quite a bit of support at the clinician level and a fairly mature client base. We envision some time in the first and second quarters of 2022 starting up a new hospital in Grand Bahama.
“The concept of the hospital is 12 beds on the ground from day one with the capacity to expand to 20, a full Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with five to seven ER (emergency room) critical bays with the capacity to expand. We’re building in the capacity to expand with evolved healthcare needs. We’re approaching Grand Bahama with scalability.
“We anticipate that at full maturity we could be looking at anywhere from 90-100 full-time jobs. Beyond direct employment impacts, we expect to engage local designers and architects, and for certain vendor services we expect to have local partners.”
Mr Deveaux said the emergency room bays could thus be rapidly expanded to ten. While there had been initial suggestions that Doctors Hospital will partner with Cleveland Clinic for its Grand Bahama expansion, he added that this had not been finalised and was “an open discussion point.” See full story in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2021/aug/03/doctors-40-public-gb-hospital-ownership/
