Alkhair Capital launches $100m Islamic healthcare fund

Sajjad Ahmad, Deputy Business Editor

Alkhair Capital Dubai, a leading financial services company offering a comprehensive range of Shari’ah-compliant investment solutions, has launched Alkhair Capital Healthcare Sector Fund, the Islamic healthcare liquidity Fund domiciled in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with a target size of $100 million.

The Shari’ah-compliant Fund, designed with an open-ended structure, is poised to invest in enterprises harnessing cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) to bolster healthcare providers,” stated the company addressing the media in Dubai.

Alkhair Capital has partnered with Klaim Technologies, a fintech firm that provides AI-powered solutions for assessing insurance claims, aimed to deploy proactive investment management approaches to meet objectives of the Fund.

Commenting on the launch of the healthcare sector Fund, Naveed Aurakzai, CEO of Alkhair Capital Dubai, said, “The healthcare sector is experiencing remarkable growth, propelled by the region’s expanding senior citizen population, rising life expectancy, and a surge in lifestyle diseases. This surge has led to significant challenges, including insufficient infrastructure, higher medical claim settlements, and liquidity constraints due to extended working capital cycles.”

“We are confident that the Alkhair Healthcare Fund will play a pivotal role in addressing liquidity challenges and prolonged working capital cycles, which are currently hampering the profitability and expansion of medical facilities,” he added.

Citing internal analysis, he explained that the UAE health sector currently has $1.2 billion in medical claims caught in processing. “Healthcare facilities encounter a delay of 112 days on average to receive 90 percent of their payments from insurance companies. We launched this investment Fund with the primary aim of addressing one of the most formidable challenges within the sector, estimated to encompass $100 billion in spending within the GCC,” Aurakzai said.   

Aafaque Muamber, Principal, Private Equity at Alkhair Capital Dubai, said, “The Fund presents investors with an investment structure characterized by low volatility and income generation. The Fund facilitates access to the rapidly expanding healthcare sector of the region and aims to achieve an annual return of 6 to 12 per cent”.

Speaking about the investment approach, he added that the underlying investments will be strategically allocated across short to medium-term durations. This allocation aims to strike a balance between fulfilling the Fund’s liquidity requirements and achieving favorable returns.

Karim Dakki, CEO of Klaim, said, “Our partnership with Alkhair Healthcare Fund marks a significant step toward resolving the pressing liquidity challenges in the healthcare sector. Leveraging our AI-driven insurance claims assessment technology, we aim to optimize and accelerate the claims process, facilitating prompt payments to medical facilities. This collaboration is in alignment with our overarching mission to bring transformative technological solutions to the healthcare sector.”

Based in DIFC, Alkhair Capital Dubai provides tailor-made, Shari’ah-compliant investment strategies in asset management, advisory services, and private equity.