Black-owned healthcare investment company lists on JSE

Johannesburg - RH Bophelo [JSE:RHB] has listed as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) on the Main Board of the JSE on Wednesday.

It has, therefore, joined five other companies in the non-equity investments instruments sector of the exchange, which currently has a total market capitalisation of R2.17bn.

RH Bophelo is a black-owned investment company with an interest in healthcare assets, and will acquire hospitals in SA that provide affordable healthcare.

The company aims to increase access to quality healthcare among people in the lower to middle-income brackets, who cannot afford private healthcare as it is currently structured in SA. To achieve this, the company will invest in hospitals already in operation, brownfield projects where licenses to operate are already in place, as well as in other healthcare funds and related subsectors, the JSE said in a statement.

“All South Africans, regardless of their income status, have a right to quality healthcare services. We are proud that as the JSE we can play a part in ensuring this right through offering a well-regulated and liquid market where RH Bophelo can raise the necessary capital to realise its goals,” Prejelin Naggan, head of primary markets at the JSE, said in a statement.

Naggan said listing as a SPAC enables the general public to share in the ownership of black-owned companies such as RH Bophelo and take part in its growth story.

“RH Bophelo will further provide investors with access to a highly sought after asset class associated with high growth, cash generative returns and direct real asset exposure to the defensive healthcare sector,” explained Quinton Zunga, CEO of RH Bophelo.

This is the ninth listing on the JSE this year and the eighth SPAC to list since introduction of SPACs in 2013, according to the JSE.